Shines A Light
by WolfMoon
Summary: SEQUEL to IED. In Harry's seventh year he has to deal with the events of his sixth and get ready for the Final Battle. With the aid of Tatsu and Neko, he should make it through -but maybe he'll need someone else too (not romance).-complete-
1. Home

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Author Note:**_

This is a** sequel** to my other story, _In Every Darkness_, which I would advise you to read before you read this one, otherwise just about NOTHING will make sense to you, although I have endeavoured to re-explain most things, to an extent so that no one has to re-read all of In Every Darkness to remember everything I'm talking about.

Let Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts commence!

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_**Shines a Light**_

Chapter One: Home

Harry was lying on his back on the floor, staring up at the unsympathetic white ceiling. "Again," Tatsu ordered heartlessly.

Harry groaned and very slowly and painfully raised his body from the floor and touched his forehead to his knees, then fell backwards with a cry of pain. Who would have thought that what he had been able to do almost without thought the year before could now be so hard? "I can't do this anymore," he whispered, shamed.

"He's right, Tatsu. He broke his back a week ago, you can't expect to him be perfect now – he's done _ten_ push-ups, where most would not be able to do one – let him stop now," Neko said. "After all, he can try for eleven tomorrow."

Harry groaned at the mere thought of the next day, when he would have to repeat the process of the last half an hour. _Ten_ push-ups – at the moment it sounded like a lot, but he knew that only two weeks ago he would have been able to do one hundred without thought.

Well, two weeks ago was before the last Quidditch match of the school year. In that match, Harry had caught the Snitch, winning the game and the tournament for his team, Unity. But, just after he had caught the elusive golden ball, a Bludger, hit before he caught the ball, had struck him in the small of his back, and had broken it

Harry had been in a coma for several days, and the magical world had feared for his survival. Despite the fact that magic could heal what Muggle technology could not, broken spines still presented quite a problem.

Then he had woken up, just in time for the last day of school, and the world had celebrated. Well, the part of the world that supported the Light had, anyway. Those who followed Lord Voldemort would have been a lot happier if Harry had simply died while in the coma.

Now he was home. It was funny to think of Privet Drive as home, but it was now. Harry no longer lived with the Dursley's, who had been killed along with Remus Lupin the year before on Harry's birthday. Now he lived with the man who had moved next door the summer before – Tatsu Kendo.

Tatsu had been a good friend of Harry's parents and godfather both, and had fought in the war against Voldemort the last time, despite the fact that he had been born a Malfoy, Lucius's older brother, in fact. Tatsu was a squib, but he, and many other squibs had powers that the rest of the Magical world had long been unaware of. Tatsu had left when the Malfoy's disowned him, and had gone to Japan, where he had met others with the same talent that he had – they called it Modifying. This was when someone 'modified' a spell that another person created, and in Japan there was quite a group of them, from all over the world.

Tatsu had taken the place of the Dursley's as Harry's guardian, and Neko, one of the other Modifiers, had moved in with them at the end of the school year, as she had decided that she liked England better than Japan.

"You're right," Tatsu remarked quietly, smiling both at Harry and at Neko. From what Harry could work out, Tatsu and Neko had never had any romantic connections, but they were very good friends. "That's enough for the day. Here, Harry, let me help you up."

Harry accepted Tatsu's hand and clambered slowly to his feet. Magic had healed his back to some extent, but if he wished to keep limber for the rest of his life, he would have to keep as fit as he possibly could – of course, with Tatsu around, this was hardly a problem.

Harry knew perfectly well that he had to do everything he could to flex his back and move around, but it was so _painful!_ Then again, if he didn't, he would freeze up, and face the possibility of never being able to move again.

"Why don't you go for a walk, some fresh air would undoubtedly do you good," Neko remarked once Harry had straightened himself and painfully flexed his back to try and ease the ever-present stiffness.

Harry smiled faintly, almost sarcastically, "How could I get home if I went too far and was unable to return? What would I do if a Death Eater attacked? I no longer have my relative's protection over me, remember." These two concerns were now major in Harry's life. If a Death Eater attacked, he would not find it easy to turn it back, finding swift movement as difficult and painful as he currently did.

"Well, actually, I wanted to give you something," Tatsu said, "And now seems the ideal time to do so, since you will be able to use it now. I thought that your back could become a problem in allowing you to function properly, so I went to have a little talk with our new Minister of Magic."

Another thing that had changed dramatically since last summer, Harry thought to himself. On Christmas day, Fudge had been killed by Lord Voldemort, and as far as most of the world was concerned, Albus Dumbledore had died also. This was not the case, however. Dumbledore had let himself appear to die, in order to protect Severus Snape's place a spy in the Death Eater ranks. Harry wasn't sure what had happened to Hogwarts' aging Headmaster, but he knew that the man was alive and, presumably, happy, somewhere out in the world.

Alastor Moody, with the help of Kingsley Shacklebolt, had managed to calm the Order down, and was now its head, though everyone could see that he would soon hand over the reins of the business to the younger man. Minerva McGonagall was Headmistress of Hogwarts, and her nephew Michael had taken over as Transfiguration teacher.

In the Ministry, a woman from the Order named Genevieve had taken Fudge's place. She had been put in place as acting Minister, but when the Wizarding world had recovered enough to call a vote, she had won anyway, having proven herself a capable ruler in the interim.

"What did she have to say?" Harry asked. He didn't really know her at all. He had seen her face in the paper, but had never actually met her in person.

"Well, she thought that what I was proposing was a great idea and organised for me to get some help from the some of the other Ministry officials and members," Tatsu replied, "Which I can tell you right now, Fudge would not have done, despite the fact that my request was sensible."

"What was your request?" Harry asked, now beginning to get a little impatient with Tatsu's sidestepping of the topic.

"To help me to make this," Tatsu replied, reaching into a pocket and drawing out a small box covered in red velvet, like the boxes that Uncle Vernon had given Aunt Petunia jewellery in when he was having a particularly good time at work.

Harry took the box from Tatsu and opened it. He could barely manage to hide his disappointment. Inside was a just that – a piece of jewellery. As he looked, however, he realised that the jewellery was by no means normal.

It was a band of silver, about half a centimetre wide, and was engraved with a flame pattern. The difference was that the pattern _moved_, much as Wizarding pictures did. Before Harry could ask what was so special about the ring, Tatsu urged him to take it out and put it on.

Not wanting to disappoint his friend and guardian, Harry did as he was bid, slipping the ring, which looked quite large, onto the ring finger of his left hand. It immediately shrunk to fit him perfectly. Harry could almost think that it wasn't there at all.

A dragon, not engraved but created separately from the ring and joined – or at least, Harry thought it had been joined – later in the process of making the ring, appeared. It had apparently been curled up on the underside of the ring, but it now moved itself to a position straight over Harry's finger, spreading its wings wide, and resting them so that they curled down the side of the ring. Its tail was curled around its back legs, and it extended its head a little way up Harry's finger, then apparently went to sleep.

Harry looked questioningly at Tatsu, "It's a great piece of work, I can admit that," Harry remarked, "But I'm not sure how it's supposed to help me."

"It's a Portkey," Tatsu said, blunt and to the point for once. "Except that it never fails, as most Portkeys do. To get anywhere you like, you just have to say 'take me to' and add the destination of your choice. It can also take you directly to Ron, Hermione, myself or Dumbledore, if you just say their name."

"So could I ask it to take me to Voldemort's Fortress?" Harry enquired.

"No. It can't take you places unless you have permission to be there, given by the person in charge, or the person you are looking for," Tatsu replied. "That's the way these things work. If Ron or Hermione were kidnapped by Death Eaters, _then_ you could ask it to take you to where they were, and if they were in Voldemort's fortress, then you could go there."

"So how did Barty Crouch send me to the graveyard?" Harry asked.

"Simple, he was going to set up a Portkey, which _should_ have taken you to the start of the maze – he had Dumbledore's permission to do that, so he could – and he had Voldemort's permission to make a Portkey that would bring you to him," Tatsu replied. "Ron and Hermione's parents both gave their concession – as minors, you have to ask their guardians. I asked them and they agreed anyway."

"Alright," Harry replied. "This seems really cool!"

"I should hope so. You should find it smoother than a normal Portkey as well, I spent quite a bit of time making it as perfect as I possibly could," Tatsu added. "With Neko's help, of course."

"Of course," Harry agreed. "Thank you both!" He gave each of them a careful hug.

"Why don't you try it out and go have a shower and get changed before you go on your walk," Tatsu suggested.

"You know, I just might do that," Harry smiled back at his guardian. It was so â€ different, to have people that he knew he could count on to do anything necessary to make him feel at home, and make his life worth living. And it was so _nice_.

"Take me to my room," Harry said clearly. There was a slight sensation of movement, rather like the few times he had gone shopping with his aunt and cousin, and had had to use lifts. Harry realised immediately that Tatsu must have used the Modifying magic to make the ride smoother, and more comfortable for Harry – the sensation of a normal Portkey was one that was connected with bad memories for him.

Once in his room, Harry grabbed some fresh clothes, then used the Portkey to take him to the bathroom, where he showered and dressed in more 'normal' clothes. He had been wearing his Gi, which was a cloth fighting-suit worn in many forms of unarmed combat, including Tatsu's. A wave of his wand and the Gi was no longer soaked with sweat.

Harry brushed his hair, which was starting grow quite long, because he couldn't be bothered to cut it, and was wondering if the longer his hair got, the easier it would be to manageâ€ of course, the fact that it was wet made it very easy to take care of at the moment.

He hadn't noticed a load of change, as yet, but there was some, which was better than nothing, he supposed. Heading back to his room, he hung his Gi in the wardrobe, then used the Portkey to get back downstairs to Tatsu's side.

"It's so much smoother than a normal Portkey," he said to his guardian with a smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, of course," Tatsu smiled in response. "Now, you may as well head off on that walk, hadn't you?"

Harry laughed and walked outside, sitting on the front step to pull his shoes on. He was wearing Doc Martins which Tonks had insisted he buy the year before on a shopping trip, as they were surprisingly comfortable, he wore them quite a lot now.

Closing the door behind him, Harry wandered down the street, looking over at the place were Number Four Privet Drive now stood again. Despite the fact that it had been levelled the year before in the Death Eater attack, it had been rebuilt, exactly as it had once been, and sold to a new couple with a baby girl. Harry wondered briefly how they felt, living in a house where the previous occupants had died a horrible death.

Harry shook his head, clearing this from his mind, and wondered off down the street. It was surprising how much everything seemed to have changed, now that he actually enjoyed living in Little Whinging, with a guardian he _liked_.

When he reached the park, he shook his head in disgust. It didn't seem that Dudley's gang had changed after the other's death. The place was a trash heap – all of the equipment was broken and covered with graffiti. Harry could still see, in a couple of places, the inscription '_Big D_', but it was mostly covered with the names of others in the gang. They obviously had a new leader, whether that person was someone who had been in the original gang, or someone who had joined it after Dudley died, Harry didn't know.

At the other end of the park, on the corner, Dudley's old gang were standing around, smoking cigarettes and sniggering meanly at passers by. It was obvious that no one used the park any more – why would they bother? It had been ruined.

Harry shook his head slightly, sad that people would do this for _enjoyment_. If Dudley had his gang had been wizards, Harry would have said they would be ones who would join Voldemort the minute they were asked to.

Harry checked around, making sure that there was no one watching him. He was safe, of course, since no one came to the park any more, and anyone who could avoided passing it when the group of teenage boys were around. He took out his wand and waved it, murmuring a few incantations, clearing some of the graffiti away from a park bench, and repairing a ruined leg so that he could sit down.

He wondered if it would be possible to get the neighbourhood to rise up and chase Dudley's gang out – they were a group of cowardly bullies, nothing more, and if they were strongly opposed, then it would be likely that they would leave the park alone in future.

Harry shook his head slightly, maybe that could be a project for the summer, but he wasn't sure, as yet, if it would be worth it. He wasn't sure that the neighbourhood would _want_ to try and oppose the gang

Harry sat for a long time, staring into space and thinking. His thoughts covered many things, from his happiness to living with Tatsu, to his rage that Voldemort was still out there, killing and torturing innocent people. He was so taken up with his thoughts that he never noticed that Dudley's gang had spotted him and moved in to see what someone was doing in _their_ territory.

He didn't realise that they had gathered around him until it was too late.

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Well everyone, here's the first chapter of Shines A Light, the sequel to In Every Darkness. Thanks to **Charmed88** for beta-reading for me! I hope you all enjoy the chapter. The next ones should be out in the near future. For once, I actually have a story plan to work from, and I know exactly where I'm going with the story! Yay for me!

WolfMoon


	2. Learning A Lesson

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Two: Learning A Lesson

Harry yelped in pain and surprise as a beefy fist slammed into his stomach, his back protesting violently when he curled his body around the wounded area instinctively.

"Oh, did we hurt you, Harry?" a familiar voice sneered. Harry straightened painfully and looked into the face of Piers Polkiss, who was standing behind Gordon.

Piers was a small rat-like boy, even though he was approaching the age of seventeen very fast. It was not Piers who had punched Harry, that was for certain – it had most likely been Gordon. Piers disliked getting his hands dirty, but was happy to hold people's arms behind their backs while the others did the rest of the work.

"Not really," Harry said, catching his breath quickly and rising to his feet. He mentally cursed himself for allowing _anyone_ to get as close to him as he had – if they had been Death Eaters, he would have been in big trouble.

As it was, he was in a bad enough position. If he had been completely healthy, as he had been the year before, he would have been completely comfortable in this situation, knowing that he could teach these boys that picking on him was not the best idea... since the last day of school, however, all that had changed.

Gordon swung a punch at Harry, which he ducked easily, just as Piers snarled, "No one talks back to us!"

"Why not? They can't all be _scared_ of you?" Harry taunted, dropping to the ground with a hiss of pain and rolling under Gordon's second punch, coming up to his feet behind the group of boys, so that no one could sneak up on him.

They all looked comically surprised about the move, evidently used to keeping people under their eyes and boxed in so they could not escape.

"_Everyone_ is scared of us," Piers told him.

"Not everyone, because I count as a person, and, to be honest, I'm not in the least bit scared of you," Harry informed them. "I'd love to fight you and teach you a lesson that you wouldn't be forgetting any time soon, but since I hurt my back at school ... well, I wouldn't want to slow down my recovery by wasting my time fighting idiots like you."

Piers had opened his mouth to say something, when they saw something behind Harry that evidently frightened them. "That's the way Harry," a rough voice remarked. Harry did not even have to turn to tell that it was Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody who was approaching and scaring Dudley's old gang so much.

"You save yourself for _real_ fighters," added a voice that Harry was fairly sure belonged to Tonks. Knowing that his back was covered, he turned to see, as he had thought, Moody, accompanied by a muscular looking female.

"Hi Moody, hi Tonks," Harry greeted them calmly. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed Dudley's gang moving away – they had seen Moody before, and he had seemed dangerous then ... he looked even more scarred, and was grimmer than ever, now.

"We noticed you were heading in this direction, and we've heard some things about the imbeciles who inhabit the park, so we thought we'd come and make sure no one got hurt ... your back will be a long time in the recovery, and you're needed too much in other, far more important fights, like you said," Moody told Harry gruffly.

"We'll see you home, we have to talk to Tatsu anyway," Tonks added cheerfully, then turned to glare at the boys. "If I think you're going anywhere_ near_ Harry again, I'll be right by his side to teach you a lesson!" she told them threateningly, then draped an arm over Harry's shoulders and led him away.

Harry looked over his shoulder only once, to see the shocked faces of Dudley's old gang peering after him, most of them looking scared – he didn't blame them, Tonks and Moody made a formidable pair.

"Sorry to interrupt you there," Tonks said cheerfully as they walked, "But Moody didn't think that it was a particularly good idea for you to be running around and getting into fights so soon after your injury."

Harry smiled at her, "It's ok," he replied, "I was looking for a way out of that situation anyway, I didn't think it would agree with me much ... but it seemed cowardly to run away."

"You wouldn't have been running away, you would have been making a statement to the general population that fighting is not always necessary," Tonks told him airily.

"Where did _that_ come from?" Harry demanded.

"Too much time spent in the company of that sourpuss, Snape," Tonks replied, wrinkling her nose. "He's a bad influence, I've been spouting this crap far too often for my taste, and don't even notice until after I've spoken."

Harry laughed at that. He really liked Tonks, the way she spoke and how she reacted to the world around her – it was so refreshing, especially when she came out with odd bits and pieces, such as her comment a moment ago.

Even Moody seemed to find this comment amusing, as his grizzled lips were curved in the slightest of smiles, which, coming from him, was a lot.

"How goes the Order?" Harry enquired.

"It goes well," Moody growled, "Though I'm searching for a new leader now."

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Because I'm not the man they're looking for in a leader. I'm too cautious for most of them," Moody told him, "See too many things in the shadows, too many things that aren't there. Kingsley's a good choice, but he isn't interested in leadership quite yet, and he isn't ready to take over anyway. What we need is another Dumbledore, but one of those isn't about to be forthcoming."

Harry nodded. He supposed he could see what Moody meant – a leader had to know when to jump blindly forward, and Moody didn't like jumping blind. A leader also had to be cautious, which Moody was, but he was _too_ cautious, sometimes, and his reputation was against him a lot of the time.

Dumbledore had been the best leader they could have hoped for, but he had gone from them now, and would not be coming back until the war was over and Severus did not have to live in fear of being discovered as a spy.

"Do you think you will find the one that you're looking for?" Harry wanted to know.

"I have already found the one," Moody growled, "But the one is not yet ready."

Harry nodded and left it there, since Moody did not seem inclined to speak ... not that he ever really was.

"Got plans for next year, Tonks?" Harry asked.

"Plenty," Tonks winked back at him, "And I'll be wanting your help with the seventh year classes, of course."

"Right, I'll do what I can," Harry replied. "How are Ron and Hermione doing?"

"Mr. Weasley is delighting in the ability to use magic out of school, and is using it for the most frivolous of reasons," Moody spoke up before Tonks could, "Miss Granger, however, is taking the opportunity to better her understanding of magic by asking those Order members at their ease to teach her what they know. Miss Weasley has followed the better of the two examples."

Harry smiled faintly. "Sounds like Ron and Hermione," he remarked. "Is Hermione happy with being able to use magic?"

"Very," Tonks remarked, "But she's yelling at Ron at every given opportunity for misusing the right... he hasn't started listening to her yet though."

"Wouldn't surprise me if he never does," Harry snorted. "Ron's like that."

"What about you? What are you doing with the ability to use magic outside of school?" Moody enquired.

"Me? Didn't the Ministry tell you? I've been able to use magic outside of school since last year!" Harry exclaimed, blinking in surprise.

"What?" Moody yelped. "This happened a year ago, and no one knew of it? Why didn't you ever mention it?"

"Well, first because the letter that they sent me informing me that the ban had been removed in my case request that I say so to no one, because the Department was doing it without Fudge's authorisation, through the school year because it didn't matter, and this summer because for one thing I assumed you already knew, and for another, it didn't matter again, because everyone is allowed to do magic now," Harry replied.

Moody 'hmphed', but didn't seem to find a problem with Harry's answer, "Well, if something like that happens again, I would be grateful if you let us know," he told Harry, then let the subject drop.

"Is _that_ how you got so great at Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Tonks asked.

"I guess. I practiced a lot," Harry replied. "I wanted to be good."

"You succeeded," Tonks assured him. "You can give me a run for my money, and even though most people wouldn't think so, I'm one of the better fighters ... not the best, but one of them."

Moody nodded in agreement, "You could be better," he told her gruffly, "If you worked hard enough."

"I _was_ good enough," Tonks retorted. "Once I realised that there didn't seem to be anything other than a desk job ready for me after You-Know-Who was defeated last time, I didn't think I needed to work harder. You don't need to tell me that was a mistake, I've already started making up for it."

Moody snorted. "Don't you ever do that, Harry," he told the boy, "You can _never_ be good enough. Keep practicing, keep getting better, and the day that you can get no better will be the day you get good enough – that will be the day you die."

"He's a right bundle of joy, isn't he?" Tonks said cheerfully as the three of them approached Privet Drive. "Would you believe, this is his _good_ mood?"

"I think I would," Harry replied, smiling slightly.

It was Tonks turn to snort, as she knocked on the door. Neko came and opened it before ten seconds had passed. "Harry! And these are Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks!" she said in greeting, shaking hands with Moody and Tonks.

"Just call me Tonks," Tonks told her, grimacing slightly at the use of her first name. "I don't like Nymphadora – then again, who in their right mind would?"

"But it is a lovely name!" Neko protested.

"Just don't go there Neko," Harry advised, "_Everyone_ knows her as Tonks, and no one I know of has gotten away with calling her Nymphadora on a regular basis."

"Tonks it shall be, then," Neko smiled, "Please, come in. I'll put on some green tea!"

"That wasn't quite what I'd expected – I've heard reports that this woman is quite a fighter," Tonks whispered to Harry.

"She is," Harry replied, "She's a fighter who likes house-work, she likes to keep clean, and the Japanese raise their children to be polite. Tea drinking is part of the polite welcome."

Tonks gagged, "She doesn't expect _me_ to be polite and well mannered does she?" she demanded, "I've tried that before, and it just _doesn't work_! I can do polite, to an extent, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I could possibly be called well-mannered."

"Don't worry – Neko has seen you before, remember? She was there with the rest of the Japanese Modifiers when they came to remake the wards on the castle," Harry pointed out. "Besides, I've told Neko something of you, and she knows what to expect."

Tonks put a hand to her heart, "Well, that's a lucky thing," she said. "I wouldn't want to offend someone of her power!"

Harry smiled slightly. "She'd be the first to say that she wasn't that powerful," he told Tonks, "I've yet to work out if that's true, or just because denying their good traits is part of Japanese manners ... I do know that she's wicked good with a Katana, but never really admits it."

Tonks looked at him in astonishment, "What's the point in being good if no one knows it?" she asked.

"As long as you know it, all is well," Neko had returned from the kitchen in time to hear the last comment. "You need to know your strengths, but you do not need to tell others of them."

"I think Japanese manners would give me a headache," Tonks confessed to Harry, who smiled slightly.

Neko outright laughed, "They do so to many foreigners. Tatsu had a hard time adjusting when first he came to us, and he had been raised to be very polite ... but his politeness was not ours. Now you could easily mistake him for one of us ... apart from his looks, of course, which remain decidedly European."

"Well, that is hardly something I can help!" Tatsu exclaimed, joining them, shaking hands warmly with Tonks and Moody, who he knew well from the previous summer and school year.

"How are you?" Moody enquired politely.

"I'm fine," Tatsu beamed back, "We've been discovering what it's like to have a 'normal' family life ..."

"However normal things can get when you have a father who's a squib and ran from Britain to Japan, then discovered he could command a whole new branch of magic, and also learnt to fight with the best of them, a mother who _is_ Japanese but decided she liked Britain better and is the best there is when it comes to using a Katana ... and a son with a recently broken back who has a magic that neither of his 'parents' do," Harry grinned.

The group laughed ... well, Moody sort of half smiled, and everyone else laughed. "Your back is recovering?" Moody asked him.

"Seems to be," Harry replied, "It hurts like hell at the moment, but that's probably from all the sit ups Tatsu made me do earlier."

Tatsu smiled, "They helped, didn't they?" he said, pretending to be hurt.

"Of course they did. That doesn't mean it wasn't painful," Harry returned.

Moody and Tonks both seemed amused by Harry's easy going relationship with both of his new 'parents'. "So you're finally learning what family life is really about?"

Harry smiled back at his friends, "It would seem so," he replied.

Moody and Tonks nodded slightly, then Moody turned to Tatsu, "Well, Tatsu, it was you I really came to see ... Minerva wants to see you and Neko both about something ... but I'll let her tell you what."

"When?" Tatsu asked easily.

"How about a week's time?" Moody suggested, "At Grimmauld Place, of course. There is a meeting of the Order which corresponds with that time."

Tatsu nodded, "I'll bring Harry along, it'll do him good to see his friends."

"'He' is right here," Harry remarked, pretending to be offended that Tatsu was talking over his head. Of course, he was completely used to it, as that was how the Dursley's had generally treated him.

"Sorry, Harry. You would like to see Ron, Hermione, and Ginny again, wouldn't you?" Tatsu smiled at him.

"Of course," Harry said, "Thanks for asking!"

Tatsu laughed at that. "You look like you could use another shower," he told his young ward, "What happened, did you fall over?"

"Had to drop and roll to avoid a punch from one of what used to be Dudley's gang," Harry replied, "They cornered me in the park ... I should have been more alert."

"You will be next time," Tatsu told him sternly.

"Of course," Harry responded, then wandered upstairs to do as Tatsu had subtly suggested, and take a shower and put on some new clothes.

Harry reflected that it was a good thing he knew spells to clean clothes, otherwise Neko and Tatsu would get _very_ sick of washing. They were both happy enough to let Harry tend to the washing with magic, and leave them free to cook and clean and do whatever else it was that they wanted to.

Neko loved to cook, as did Tatsu, and both of them enjoyed the monotony of cleaning, which allowed them to let their minds wander and reflect on things.

Harry, who had only ever cooked or cleaned because the Dursley's had forced him to, was now beginning to see why some people enjoyed it so ... though he would much rather be studying magical texts or training with Tatsu in the ways of the unarmed combat or Modifying.

Well, another week and he would see Ron, Hermione, and Ginny again. He would be looking forward to it, because he had not spent much time with them for a little while.

Grypis, lying out full length across Harry's bed, looked up when the boy arrived in his bedroom. Since the curtains were drawn and there was no chance that anyone would see inside the room, Grypis had assumed his real form, that of a griffin.

Grypis had been given to Harry the year before as a gift from Dumbledore and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. Grypis's family had been killed by Death Eaters, and Harry had ended up taking care of him.

Not long after he and Grypis had first met, Harry had found out that they were actually soul-brothers, and that, just as Grypis's soul name was Grypis, Harry himself was one of the few humans alive to know his own soul name, which was Gryfas.

To everyone but Harry, Grypis was known as 'Gryphon', and to most people, he was a cat that had turned up with Harry on the first day of school in sixth year. A few people, all of them members of the Order of the Phoenix, knew that 'Gryphon' was in fact a griffin. Griffins had the ability to change form to either a cat or a bird, which was what their body was made up of.

Where once, a year before, Grypis had been so small that he could have ridden on Harry's shoulder with ease, and so light that Harry would hardly notice if he did, now, in his true form, he took up most of the bed.

"Hey mate," Harry said, walking into the room, hair still dripping from its second shower in less than that many hours.

_Good evening Gryfas_, Grypis replied lightly. Harry never referred to Grypis by his true name aloud, as knowing someone's true name could give you power over them, and he had never mentioned to anyone that he had a true name of his own. Only Grypis ever called him Gryfas, and for the moment, that felt _right_ to Harry. _You were in trouble earlier ... I regret that I could not come, but I did not think that it would have been a good idea for anyone to have seen me in my true form, which would have been the only way I could have helped you. _

"That's ok, I was alright," Harry replied, "Tonks and Moody turned up before I had to leave – I couldn't have fought them anyway."

_You would not have _needed_ to fight them. You know perfectly well that you are far better than they are when it comes to matters of battle_.

"But they would have still thought me a coward," Harry told the griffin, sitting on the bed, just managing to lie down on it, since Grypis took up so much room.

_Let them,_ Grypis said practically. _There is no point in getting hurt proving a point to those who do not matter at all_.

Harry smiled. Grypis's logic was, as always, logical, and he loved the griffin's fresh ways of looking at things. Then again, Harry knew it well himself, but still, it would have rankled, knowing that Dudley's gang thought that he was a coward, when he knew beyond doubt that he wasn't.

"I'll be going to visit Ron and Hermione in a week," he remarked to Grypis, "Tatsu has something to do with the Order, and Headmistress McGonagall wishes to speak to him about something."

_It'll be good to see Grimmauld Place again_, Grypis remarked. _I have not been there for some time, and I miss it, in some ways_.

Harry smiled. "Well, there's something for both of us to look forward to," he remarked.

* * *

Well, there's chapter two done! Again, thanks to Charmed88 for being a wonderful beta! A quick note – this story isn't going to be anywhere NEAR as long as In Every Darkness, and should wind up around the 30 chapter mark, rather than the 90 chapter mark. Sorry to those of you who wanted a longer story, but it's not gonna happen ...

Thanks: (_thirty one reviews for the first chapter - not too bad. Not too bad at all)_

Kraeg001, Charmed88, mrs-osbornes'-class, Mr Alex James (_not surprise that you forgot what went on last story, it was so long ago, and quite a bit of stuff happened ...)_, Carolina06, skittles-07, Tombadgerlock, Laen, Kaye, Nicoletta, cantfindagoodname, tish tosh, NateP, Charmed1s, JeanieBeanie33, Kordolin, ScrewyLouie12, Dumbeldave, amarilis, tottaly clueless, FreedomStar, ettedanreb, Wytil (_look, you've been thanked now!)_, Lina Thanatos, moonypadfoot, HermioneGreen, uNoeWho, jbfritz, fcuking cathy, Fairy, The Lord NightHawk, Scotty, lyss33, Elvira, animalluvr75, Nita Black (_good to hear!_), TuxedoMac, LunaLovegood61.

WolfMoon


	3. A Lesson Worth Teaching

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Three: A Lesson Worth Teaching

The knowledge that he would soon see his friends again was pretty much all that kept Harry going through the rest of that week. His days were dreadful, a continual round of back exercises, specially designed to improve his back, and the occasional walk around the neighbourhood, which was ruined by the fact that Dudley's old gang was apparently trying to haunt him.

The moment he walked out of his house, they were near by, watching, sneering and making threatening gestures. However, Neko noticed this immediately, and either she or Tatsu now seemed to always come with Harry when he decided to go out on walks, and the group of obnoxious teenagers seemed to decide that it wasn't worth it.

"You alright?" Neko asked on the morning that they were due to leave to Grimmauld Place. "You look a little tired."

Harry hadn't been able to sleep the night before, though he wasn't sure why ... he had been tired, definitely, but unable to sleep. He and Grypis had stayed up the whole night talking of this and that.

"I didn't sleep well," he replied. He was annoyed about that, because he was becoming ever more aware that the nights he spent with Sirius were ever more numbered. He enjoyed the night time talks he had with Sirius, and he did not look forward to the time when they would cease – much as he enjoyed spending time with Tatsu, the other man would never be able to take Sirius's place in Harry's life, and Harry didn't think that Tatsu would ever knowingly try.

Neko simply nodded slightly. "Ready to go?" she asked him.

"I think I am," Harry replied.

"Good, because we'll have to leave fairly soon," Tatsu said, bounding into the room with more energy than Harry was prepared to think about at present. Tatsu had evidently been out for a morning run, something Harry rarely did these days, because running made his back hurt, and he didn't want to overstrain himself until he was fully recovered.

"I'll go and pack enough clothes to last a few days, just in case we end up staying for longer than we expect," Harry said.

"A wise idea," Tatsu agreed. "I would suggest that you also bring your Katana, which you may wish to have with you."

Harry nodded. If Tatsu said he might need something, odds were he would. He wasn't sure why he would need the Katana though – it sounded as if Neko would be restarting her lessons with him in regard to its use, though with his back hurting, he wasn't sure how he well he would do in those lessons.

Going upstairs, Harry found a bag and magically charmed his clothes within it, folding them neatly and using the space in the best way possible. Shoes, clothes, training clothes and Katana all found their way within his bag, and he was soon ready to go.

Grypis, now in cat form and so much smaller than his real form, stretched languidly on the bed, then jumped to the floor and followed Harry back downstairs.

"_I wish that I could keep to my true form_," Grypis remarked darkly. "_I have come to enjoy spending time in it, and now we have to go where there are other people, and I will have to remain in this form most of the time._"

"Not necessarily," Harry consoled his friend, "You can keep to my room, if you wish, and keep your real form there ... besides, a lot of the Order members know you for what you are."

"_Yes, but they will expect things of me, and they will probably spend most of their time staring me, should I be in my real form_," Grypis grumbled in reply. "_I may leave you, for a time, and seek out others of my kind in the wild ... I do not yet know._"

Harry nodded. He was not Grypis's keeper, and would not try to keep the other with him, though he would not pretend that, should Grypis stay true to his word and leave, he would not miss the creature.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"_No_," Grypis replied, "_Let's go_." Harry smiled faintly, and the pair of them left the room and went downstairs to find Tatsu and Neko ready and waiting for them in the kitchen.

"You'll have to do your exercises later," Tatsu told Harry, "You still have to do them, for however long it is that we are at Grimmauld Place, so don't think you get a break."

"I know," Harry replied, "I have to keep doing my exercises until I'm fit again, and then it won't hurt so much anyway."

Tatsu nodded. "Let's go then," he said. "You use your ring, we've been given a Portkey."

Harry nodded. "Take me to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," he said clearly, holding tightly to his trunk as Grypis dug his cat-claws into Harry's shoulder.

A moment later, Harry was standing in front of the door to Grimmauld Place – he realised that he hadn't asked to be _inside_ the house, and stored that information away in his mind so he would remember it the next time he used the ring.

He pushed the front door open and walked inside, dragging his trunk along with him. "Harry!" Ron and Hermione saw him and bounded over to greet him. They had been waiting in the hall because they weren't sure where Harry would be arriving.

Harry held up a hand to stop Hermione before she could hug him. "My back still hurts," he told her, so she gripped his hand in greeting instead, and Ron followed suit.

"How's your summer been?" Ron asked him.

Harry shrugged. "Alright," he replied. "Tatsu's making me do loads of exercises, and most of them hurt a lot ... but it's good for me, so I don't mind too much. Dudley's old gang is trying to make my life hell, so I hardly ever to outside these days, and if I do, Neko or Tatsu comes with me to make sure I don't get hurt."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hermione asked.

"It's a far cry from last year, when I knew that I could go wherever I wanted and never be in any danger, even if I was alone," Harry replied. "I miss the knowledge of my own strength."

"It'll come back," Neko came out of the kitchen with Tatsu and smiled gently at Harry. "Don't worry about that."

"I'm not _worried_, exactly," Harry replied, "I know it will come back, but right now I just miss it."

Neko just smiled. "Why don't you three go and catch up?" she suggested. "Tatsu is going to introduce me to everyone I don't know already, and I'm sure you don't particularly want to keep us company."

Happy enough to spend some time together, Harry, Ron, and Hermione wandered upstairs, Harry asking Ron and Hermione for details on everything that had happened to them over the summer.

"Have you heard from Lily yet?" Harry asked.

"No, not yet," Hermione replied, "But then, maybe she can't get to an owl or something."

Harry nodded slightly in agreement. "It's a pity she won't be with us at school next year," he remarked, "She was a great friend last year, that was for sure."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, and Ron nodded. "But she's gone now, back to her own home ... I guess we'll just have to go on with just the three of us again."

"Guess so," Harry agreed, "Bit of a pity really, I'd gotten used to having other people around... but we were friends first, and it'll also be nice to be getting back to just us."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "So ..."

Harry sighed. This was uncomfortable, meeting up with his friends again, even after only a couple of weeks, but so much had changed recently, it was hard to know what to talk about. They'd hardly had a chance to talk after Harry had hurt his back, that was for sure. "Well, what about you guys? How's your summer been?"

"Alright," Hermione replied, blandly. "The Order has been meeting a lot, but, as usual, they haven't been telling us anything about what goes on. Fred and George have been sworn to secrecy, using spells, to make sure they don't say anything."

"It's really annoying," Ron put in, "Knowing that there must be loads of really important decisions being made down there, and us stuck up here without knowing what's going on, at all!"

"Sounds like it," Harry agreed sympathetically. He knew that if _anything_ important happened, Tatsu would tell him about it. So far, with the Order meetings this summer, Tatsu had told him that they were mainly considering how to block the Dark Lord's attacks, with limited success. It was also easier not being present while those meetings were being held. "Hows Ginny been holding up?"

"Oh, she's doing alright," Ron replied. "She's a bit upset though, it turns out she was dating one of the boys from Beauxbatons, and now he's gone back to France, so she won't see him again for ages. And she never even told me!"

"Her love life _is_ her own concern," Harry told his friend, smiling slightly. All of the Weasley children were more than a little overprotective of their younger sister, the only girl in the family.

"Still!" Ron huffed.

Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes at one another – typical Ron, not seeing the reasoning behind his sister's movements. Obviously if Ginny had told Ron that she was dating someone from another school, Ron would have blown his top off, and tried to forbid Ginny from seeing the boy, or maybe go and try to hurt the boy in question.

"Hermione, how's the homework been going?" He asked, diverting from the last topic that he'd brought up, since it didn't seem to be the most appropriate one, what with Ron looking like he was going to blow up at any moment.

"Oh, alright," Hermione replied. "I've got a really exciting assignment from Professor Vector in Ancient Runes, so I'm doing all sorts of back-ground research to find out more about it! It's really enjoyable!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I've been spending most of my time flying with Ginny, and Fred and George when they aren't in their shop," he put in. "We have plenty of time to do our homework, after all."

Hermione sighed, "That's what you say _every_ summer, Ron," she told him, "And in the last two weeks you end up in a frantic rush to get everything done on time. How about you Harry, have you done much of your homework?"

"No, I've been trying to get my back in order again," Harry replied. "I've hardly had time to do much else other than exercise and sleep. My back hurts a lot after exercises, so I usually go to sleep it off, or go for a walk and sleep when I come back, to make sure I don't get all stiff."

Hermione's features softened, and she didn't even look like she was considering giving him a lecture on not doing his homework – then again, unlike Ron, Harry actually had a good reason for not doing anything yet.

"Hey, maybe I should break my back and see if that gets me out of doing homework for the summer," Ron remarked, a slightly hopeful expression on his face.

"Trust me Ron, you'd rather do your homework than be stuck with a recovering back," Harry told his friend, "Just think, you wouldn't be able to fly _all_ summer, and possibly not next year either. I don't know when I'll be able to fly again, though I hope that it's soon enough."

Ron blanched at the thought of not being able to fly, then looked at Harry apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that," he said quietly, and Harry shrugged.

"It's ok," he replied. "I don't mind too much. It's not like I've ever been able to fly in the summer that much before now anyway. I should be able to fly by Christmas though."

"But that means-"

"That I won't be able to play Quidditch this year," Harry finished for him. "Yeah, it does. But that's ok. I should be spending as much time as possible concentrating on recovering and on studies. Quidditch can wait until after school, I guess. I'll let someone else have a chance in the spotlight."

Ron's mouth worked, obviously completely amazed that Harry was accepting this all so easily – Quidditch had been Ron's life, even before he made the team, and it had been an escape for Harry through whatever else was going on, and now Harry was giving it up.

In truth, however, Harry had spent a lot of time thinking about it, and though he had shed a few tears at the prospect of not feeling the wind sweeping through his hair and the thrill of catching the Snitch and ending the game, he realised that Quidditch wasn't quite as important to him as it once had been. Voldemort was still out there, and Harry wanted to focus on learning enough to defeat the Dark Lord in battle.

Besides, Grypis had told him that once they returned to Hogwarts, he would take Harry flying on his own back, when Harry wouldn't be in any danger at all. Having ridden a hippogriff on a couple of occasions, Harry knew it to be very different from flying a broom, but at least he'd still be able to get up into the open air.

"Anyway, can we get away from topics that involve my back and the stuff that I can't do any more?" Harry asked quietly, getting sick of the looks of pity on his friend's faces. "I don't mind you talking about flying, Ron, but I'd like to spend our first day together this summer talking about stuff that _isn't_ depressing."

Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement, and then started casting around to try and find something that wouldn't classify as depressing. Soon enough, they settled on discussing the changes that the new Minister of Magic had been making in the Magical world, and what impact they'd been having.

They did occasionally have to bring up Voldemort in these discussions, but in these times, that was, really, unavoidable. Finally the meeting downstairs ended, and Molly Weasley summoned them down for lunch.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly found Ginny at the kitchen table and sat down with her. She looked like she was moping, and Harry immediately deduced that she'd really felt something for the French boy she'd been dating.

"How's your summer been?" He asked her, more for politenesses sake than anything else – that, and because he wanted to get the depressed expression off her face.

Ginny shrugged, "Not too good. You?" she replied.

"Well, it's getting better now," Harry replied. "Seeing all of you guys again, and my back exercises aren't so painful any more."

Ginny started, obviously having forgotten that Harry was going through troubles this holiday as well. She smiled tremulously at him – "Sorry, I'd forgotten about your back. I'm just a little heart-sick. I'll get over it soon enough."

Harry nodded. "It'll pass," he agreed calmly, "I'm sure you'll find someone new, but in the meantime, try to dwell on the good times, not the fact that you might never see him again."

"At least we can still write to each other," Ginny said. "Phillipe has a really beautiful horned owl, so we've been using it to communicate since I don't have an owl yet ... it's working out alright," she added quickly, to show that she wasn't bitter about it, "But I think that Belle is getting tired – flying all the way to France and then back again can hardly be an easy journey."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I can only imagine. I'm glad I'm not an owl," he replied, as they all loaded their plates with food and settled down to eat. While they were eating, they didn't talk much, because they were all pretty hungry.

When they finished, however, they headed upstairs again, this time with Ginny in tow, and talked for a couple of hours more, on just about everything. Harry was glad to see that his friends were relaxing around him again, and not shooting him sympathetic glances when they thought he wasn't looking.

That night, once Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had all gone to bed, Harry went to Tatsu's room to do his exercises under Tatsu's watchful eye. Harry wasn't supposed to do any of the more strenuous exercises unless Tatsu was there to watch over him, just in case something went wrong.

Once he was finished with the exercises, he and Tatsu went out into the backyard of Grimmauld Place, which was as dingy as the house was, though finally beginning to grow some tracings of green and pretty flowers, under Molly Weasley's expert care.

"Anything of interest happen in the meeting?" Harry asked as they wondered in circles around small garden, enjoying the night air.

"Yes, actually. Something you'll be happy to hear about. Neko and I will be at Hogwarts all year next year," Tatsu replied.

"Really?" Harry asked, delighted. "That's great – but why all year? You got bored last year, not having anything to do. I wouldn't want you to get bored again, if you were just doing this to keep me company."

Tatsu laughed, "No, we aren't only coming to keep you company, though it's probably the main reason that we chose to accept Minerva's kind invitation. If you weren't going to be around, we wouldn't really want to consider it."

"And what was the invitation?" Harry asked, a little impatiently.

"Minerva has requested that I teach all the third year and up students, as an optional course, hand-to-hand combat, while Neko teaches the sixth and seventh year students how to use a Katana," Tatsu replied, smiling. "You can do both courses, if you want, though."

Harry gave a delighted, but quiet, whoop, mindful of those people who would already be asleep inside, and embraced Tatsu carefully, mindful that if he hugged Tatsu too strongly, he'd end up hurting himself.

"I thought you'd be happy," Tatsu smiled at his ward. "You are, of course, welcome to extra lessons out of ordinary classes."

Harry smiled. "This is great! Now loads of people will be able to fight without their wands. It's been one of my major concerns for some time now – what would happen when people got separated from their wands. For most people, these days, you may as well stand still and let your enemies kill you!"

Tatsu nodded, "Exactly," he replied. "So, at least you won't miss us next year."

Harry laughed, quietly. "No, I won't be missing you at all!" he agreed. "Well, as exciting as all this is," he yawned, "I'm really tired, so I think I'll head up to bed ... Can I tell Ron, Hermione, and Ginny tomorrow?"

"Of course," Tatsu replied. "No reason why you shouldn't, is there?"

"I was just making sure it wasn't one of the exclusive 'Order' secrets," Harry replied.

* * *

Well, there's chapter three done! And that's the second chapter that's been around at the three thousand words mark! I'm hoping to keep them all about this length, and have more happen in a chapter than I did last story – this isn't going to be another 91 chapter monster! Hopefully this year will pass in about half that many chapters ... although I haven't got anything much planned for the story so far – just that Voldemort will, obviously, have to die at the end of it. Thanks to Charmed88 for being a great beta and finding all of my mistakes! (There are many)

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. Since I just want to get this chapter uploaded, I'm not going to do a thanks section, but rest assured, all of your reviewss are appreciated!

WolfMoon


	4. Confrontations

**_Shines A Light_**

Chapter Four: Confrontations

"Draco! You are supposed to be getting ready to accept a _betrothal_ with Miss Parkinson!" Lucius snarled at his son, who was standing still, but straight backed and tall, in front of Lucius's desk. "And you have now turned your back on her in favour of this 'Blaise Zabini', whose parents would not answer our Lord's call!"

"But father, Blaise is not her parents," Draco said coolly, remaining collected. Despite the fact that his father was scary when he got angry, Draco knew that it was time he stood his ground and let his father know that he wouldn't just do exactly what Lucius told him any more. "Blaise is ready to turn to our most glorious lord, I will be more of an asset to him that Pansy ever would have been."

"Pansy does have an influence in Slytherin, does she not? You will want to make sure that they do not try to harm you, or Miss Zabini," Lucius continued, almost absently.

"Pansy has no influence in Slytherin bar that which she got through being with me. The moment I made it clear that we were over, she had no one. She has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get support, but everyone has gone over to Blaise now," Draco replied.

"Still," Lucius said, "The Parkinson's have a considerable about of influence in our Lords circle, and you may find you have more enemies than you can deal with, if you proceed with your current course. Should the Dark Lord chose Pansy's parents side, you _will_ cast off Miss Zabini in favour of the Dark Lord's chosen bride."

"Yes Father, I know," Draco said. His father was letting him know that if the Dark Lord seemed to be favouring the Parkinson's, Draco would be on his own when facing the families wrath and the Dark Lords anger as well.

"As long as you are aware," Lucius said. "I hope this girl is all you say she is – for your sake. The Malfoy family needs an Heir, but it needs the Dark Lord's favour more. Remember that, in all of your future dealings. You may go."

Draco nodded and left the study quickly, resolving to go and write a letter to Blaise – it would sooth his temper. He had always known that his father would choose the Dark over him, if it ever came to it. He hoped that it hadn't, not on this occasion. Hopefully he would be able to find a way to get out of this without being hurt, and without having Pansy saddled on him.

The moment he walked into the hall way, Narcissa met him. "Walk with me, son," she told him softly, and he had no choice but to obey, though all he wanted to do was write a letter to Blaise and forget his family were who they were.

Once they were a significant distance from Lucius's study, Narcissa finally spoke, though she did not look at her son. "You have finally a girl who can match you then, Draco?" she asked him.

"I have," Draco replied, surprised by the direction that their conversation had taken. His mother rarely spoke to him about personal matters, at least, nothing beyond how he was going at school.

"And your father does not approve," Narcissa continued. "Because she is not the girl that he had chosen for you."

Draco nodded slowly.

"I will do my best to make the match work, if that is what you desire," Narcissa told him. "I have some influence with my husband, I am sure I can convince him that having a wife you've turned to the Dark Side would hold you in more esteem than simply going with who is chosen for you."

Draco was quietly amazed. Lucius could get quite a temper going when someone denied him something that he wanted, Narcissa did her best to stand up for her son, but she had been doing so less and less as Draco got older and could take care of himself. "Thank you, Mother," he said, softly.

Narcissa merely smiled at him, but the smile turned sad. "You might want to avoid going against your fathers commands again in the near future, Draco," she told him. "If you seem to be branching away from what he wants you to be, you will find yourself forcibly dragged back to his image of the perfect son. He may even come to doubt your loyalty the Dark, which, in a Malfoy's home, is unthinkable."

Before Draco could reply to this odd warning, his mother had turned and disappeared. Did his mother believe that he was turning from the Dark? Was she approving, if he had? He shook his head – a Slytherin saw plans and plots _everywhere_, it was the only to survive in their house, and they had to be able to find out what plans were before anything could come of them, just in case. But this was getting into rocky ground even for _him_. But he'd better figure out what was going on fast – this could be the plot of a lifetime, and he needed to find out exactly what was going on. His entire future could depend on it.

---

Blaise was staying with her mother's cousins, since her parents were dead, and, suffice it to say that she was not having a good time. Her relatives were Purebloods of the old code, and, while they did not openly support Voldemort, they thought he had the right idea. Blaise hated them, and the feeling was mutual. They thought her parents had been stupid, defying the Dark Lord like that, at the expense of their lives.

It was as different as it could be from Blaise's normal summer holidays, and she found herself spending most of her time alone, something her cousins were only too happy to allow. She thought of the past a lot, of her parents and the fun times they'd had together, of Hogwarts …

…And of Draco.

At odd moments she found herself remembering his smile, or his laugh, or simply the way he was there, a friend in need. She worried about him, also. He had not sent her any word yet this summer, and she wondered if she meant nothing to him, even after all the time they'd spent together last year. She could not help it, though she berated herself about it time and again.

She had fallen in love with the worst possible person at the worst possible time. Even if Draco _did_ like her like that – though sometimes she thought it was impossible, and at others inevitable – what could ever happen to make his family, his father in particular, agree to let them be together?

She might be a Pureblood, and she might be a Slytherin, but her parents had defied the Dark Lord. Besides, Draco had been all but betrothed to Pansy for years now, and Lucius Malfoy was obviously in favour of the match. The Parkinson's had always supported the Dark Lord.

And if, on the slightest chance, Lucius would let them be together, Blaise would have to feign allegiance to the Dark Lord, possibly even join his forces as a Death Eater… Blaise didn't know if she could do that, even for love. To join the people who had murdered her family was below her sense of pride.

One morning, she was woken early by a soft, insistent tapping at the door. She knew it was not the House Elves, because she had already requested of them that they not bother her before eight in the morning, and it was long before that now, and also, had it been the House Elves, they would have tapped once or twice, then waiting before tapping again a short time later.

That meant that it must be her family, though why they wished to talk to her, especially so early in the morning, was a complete mystery to Blaise. Groggily, she rolled to her feet and threw a robe on over her night clothes, pulling the door open angrily, hair falling dishevelled around her face, eyes puffy from lack of sleep.

"Good morning, Blaise," her mother's cousin smiled falsely at her.

"Good morning cousin," Blaise mumbled.

"Blaise, dear, you really must work on your speech," her cousin told her sternly, "You cannot hope to get far in the world if you cannot be diplomatic at any point, whether you are tired or not. I do not know how you survived in Slytherin."

Blaise refrained from remarking that she could be diplomatic if she chose. Diplomacy came naturally to her, one of the reasons that she _was_ a good Slytherin, but with the cousins that she hated; she really could not be bothered. Once her cousin realised that Blaise was not about to reply, she continued with a shake of her head. "You have received an owl, from the young Malfoy Heir," she informed Blaise coolly.

Blaise woke up immediately. Draco had contacted her, finally? "Draco?" she asked, "Draco sent me a letter?"

"Master Malfoy, yes," her cousin said, sounding a little surprised, and put out, that Blaise was speaking of Draco in first name terms. In the Pureblood world, few got away with that – the Malfoy's were treated with the upmost respect. "He requests that you meet him at the Leaky Cauldron on Diagon Alley in two days time."

For a moment, Blaise was too dizzy with delight to realise the full implications of what her cousin had said. "You _read_ my letter?" she demanded, eyes flashing with fury.

"It was necessary," her cousin said pompously. "After all, when the _Malfoy's_ are involved, even privacy must be disregarded. We would not have wanted you walking in to some sort of _trap_, after all." Blaise knew that the older woman meant the exact opposite of what she said. "A reply as already been sent with your acceptance, of course. It would not do to insult the Malfoy's."

"Well, thank you for asking my opinion on all of this," Blaise said tartly. "In future, kindly remember that my life and my mail are my own, to deal with as _I_ see fit."

Her cousin narrowed her eyes, then left, flouncing down the hallway.

Blaise shut her door and leaned against it. In just two days she would see Draco again!

---

Draco paced around the Leaky Cauldron anxiously, glancing at the fire every few seconds, hoping that it would turn green to show that Blaise was arriving. He had received an owl with news of her acceptance of his invitation, but the note had not been in Blaise's writing, and he could not deny that he did not feel a little nervous about that. He knew that Blaise was staying with cousins she disliked, his father had hinted that they were far closer to _proper_ purebloods than Blaise's parents had been.

Suddenly the fire went green and Blaise walked gracefully from the flames, looking around and immediately seeing Draco, walking over to smile and greet him happily, smiling radiantly.

He stepped forward and, to her surprise and his, embraced her tightly. "I've missed you," he told her.

Blaise, having frozen when he first embraced her, relaxed against his chest. "I've missed you to," she assured him. "I'm sorry I didn't reply to your letter, my cousins didn't even tell me it had arrived until after they'd sent the reply."

"You mean you didn't want to come?" Draco asked, knowing that only a lifetime of being taught to disguise his emotions stopped the disappointment he felt from showing. He had been so sure that she had felt the same way about him as he had about her. But maybe not.

"Of course I did," Blaise reassured him, hugging him back gently, then stepping out of his arms, "I just meant that I was sorry I didn't get to write my acceptance myself. I was _so_ happy when they told me that I could come – I really hate my cousins, and I'd much rather hang out with you. I've gotten used to being around you, it was an unpleasant shock to find myself missing someone when I got home. Usually I spend the whole year missing my parents."

Draco smiled slightly, relieved that she did want to be here, but still in doubt as to what her emotions were toward him. Obviously friendship, but hopefully there was more. "Would you like to go and get an ice cream?" he asked, leading Blaise toward the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

"May as well," Blaise replied, smiling back at him, most likely not aware of the way her smile made his heart flutter suddenly.

Draco led the way to the ice cream parlour and they spend almost an hour talking about everything while they ate their ice cream cones.

Once the ice creams were finished, they wandered all over Diagon Alley, for the most part window shopping. Blaise had the impression that if she should have asked for any of the things they saw, Draco would have bought it for her. As it was, when she sighed over a beautiful snow white kitten in the Magical Menagerie, Draco smiled suddenly about something. She couldn't remember if she'd told him that her birthday was in a weeks time, but she found herself hoping that she had.

Finally, however, Draco took her back to the Leaky Cauldron, and led her straight up to the guest rooms at the back of the shop. He'd obviously organised for this before she'd arrived. Blaise's heart was pounding loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Draco could hear it.

Draco opened one of the doors and bowed her inside. The room was small, and empty but for two lounge chairs in front of a crackling fire. Blaise took one of them, and Draco sat down facing her, looking, if she was reading his emotions, which were well hidden, correctly, rather nervous.

"My father found out that I dumped Pansy," Draco said, voice soft, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "He wasn't happy, but I convinced him that Pansy would have made a very bad match for me."

"Why are you telling me this, Draco?" Blaise asked.

Draco suddenly stood, walked over to her, caught her hands and lifted her to feet. Tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes, he stared at her for a moment, and she stared back at him. Before she realised exactly what was going on, Draco covered the gap between them and kissed her. Just as suddenly, he let her go and stepped back. "Because it opens the way for us," he told her softly.

Blaise felt dizzy – she had just been kissed by Draco Malfoy! She sat down hard, staring up at Draco, hardly able to believe it. "You mean … you like me?" she asked after a moment, when she'd started breathing again and had gathered her thoughts enough to form a question.

"Um … yeah, I guess," the sight of Draco Malfoy looking nervous and unsure of himself was so odd that Blaise smiled again, then suddenly froze when she realised what he'd just said. He's said that he _did_ like her.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked her. Blaise just went on staring at him, then shook herself slightly.

"I like you too," she said softly.

Draco smiled happily at her. "Good," he said, and kissed her again.

"So … your father approves?" Blaise asked, pulling back, still completely unsure of how she was supposed to act. She'd never been a situation remotely like this one, as she had rejected friends at school until last year.

"To an extent," Draco replied. "Until he is sure that you are as loyal to the Dark Lord as I am, he will not approve … but if you don't want to go there, I don't really care what my father thinks."

"I can do it," Blaise told him firmly, "I could do anything for you. Besides, I've dealt with Slytherin's for six years now, with some help from you and Professor Snape, I'm sure I can deal with the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who."

Draco nodded, relief showing on his face, "You will have all the help you need from me," he told her, then kissed her again.

* * *

Wow! Look at me go! This has to be the first really 'fluffy' scene in ANY of my stories! I actually wrote about it happening, rather than just remarking in passing about it! Yay! Next chapter will be back with Harry, by the way :) Here are thanks for last chapter as well as this one!

JeanieBeanie33, Kraeg001, athenakitty, athenakitty, Ms Alex James, AuroraEvanstar, jbfritz, fcuking cathy, amarilis, uNoeWho, tish tosh, Dumbeldave, NateP, Kordolin, cantfindagoodname, moonypadfoot, Medicated Drama Queen, pheonixrising, washu, HermioneGreen, GothicBlackRose, lyss33, torifire126, -never-, FreedomStar, KapOfDaPipers, W0lf QuEEn, Riannya, TuxedoMac, AnimeChicX83, QueenWeasel, hpfanchrissy, TekNthzpn, Weirdcraz24, sumli, key, , elvishchic13, goDDark, QueenWeasel, Wytil, HermioneGreen, SiriusSeven, Khadon, Emma Barrows, Dumbeldave, amarilis, Arye, Ms Alex James, katepotter, Kordolin, hpfanchrissy1502, lyss33, shadowmonk, Kaye, goDDark, torifire126, potterunlished, TuxedoMac, uNoeWho, jbtfriz.

Now everyone who has reviewed this story so far has been thanked! Thank you all for reading and reviewing my story, and continuing to support my writing!

WolfMoon


	5. Holidays End

**_Shines A Light_**

Chapter Four: Holidays End

June passed quickly for Harry, who spent his time both at Privet Drive and Grimmauld Place, talking with his friends and gradually building up strength in his back, and his ability to move faster, without pain.

July drifted past in a hazy summer dream. Harry was spending a lot of his time preparing for his Aparating licence. He would be the first of his friends to be able to try out for a license, which Hermione wasn't too happy about. Harry had discovered, to his amazement, that Ron was actually almost a year younger than Harry was, having been born in March.

On Harry's seventeenth birthday, he was woken by Grypis, Tatsu and Neko. Harry was urged to open his presents from Tatsu and Neko early, and from Neko he received a book. Tatsu presented him with a letter saying that he was summoned to the Ministry to take his Aparating test, which had been paid in full by Tatsu Kendo.

Breakfast was a quick affair, because Harry was eager to reach the Ministry of Magic for his Aparating test.

Several rather exhausting hours later, Harry Aparated to Grimmauld Place with a proud 'crack'. Ron and Hermione both congratulated him on obtaining his license, but both looked jealous.

Harry remembered little of that day besides presents, food and good company. He knew that he had the best birthday of his life, one that he got to spend with his friends, and not just after someone he loved had died.

August swung around, and with it came the yearly visit to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Harry, Molly and Arthur Aparated as one, and the others all Flooed over. Harry had to promise to stay close to an adult at all times, because it was not safe for him to be without protection. Harry refrained, with difficulty, from pointing out that he was the most capable Defence student in Hogwarts, and could Aparate away at the slightest hint of danger.

"You know," Harry said as the group assembled outside the Leaky Cauldron, "This is the last time we're going to go to Diagon Alley for school supplies."

"I know," Hermione remarked.

"I hadn't thought about it that way," Ron muttered, an expression of anticipation on his face. "Wicked! Our last year of school!"

"Now we just have to get through the NEWTs with good grades," Hermione putting in, looking at Ron with exasperation. Harry wondered what Hermione was going to do when she left school – become a teacher and go straight back, perhaps? It sounded like something she'd do.

The first place they had to visit was Gringotts. Hermione waited in line to change some Muggle money into wizard coins while the Weasley's and Harry went down in a cart to visit their vaults and withdraw money.

This year the Weasley's had a small pile of gold – without all of their children living at home and needing food, clothing and school supplies, Molly and Arthur were finally making some money. Of course, Fred and George were undoubtedly giving their parents some money, and buying their siblings some things with their profits. They'd bought Ginny several of her school books for next year as a birthday present, for example.

Of course, when Harry reached his own vault, he felt somewhat embarrassed, as he always did. Even seven years at Hogwarts hadn't done much to dint the amount of gold that was located there.

He collected a bag that should hold everything that he needed, and the group headed back up to meet up with Hermione in the foyer.

They went to Flourish and Blotts first, to buy all of the books that they would need for the next year at school, which were quite a few. Harry picked up a couple of new Defence Against the Dark Arts books that hadn't been in the shop last time he'd been here.

Most of them needed new quills, ink and pens, so they remedied that as well, and headed to the Apothecary to buy more Potions ingredients (Ginny had managed to get into Snape's class, which Ron was amazed about).

Harry insisted on buying everyone an ice cream, although Molly tried to protest that they could buy their own, and they sat around for awhile, enjoying the cold food in the summer heat.

They went back to Grimmauld Place, Harry Aparating with Molly and Arthur and the rest making their way through the Floo network. The moment they arrived, Hermione made Ron sit down and start on his homework, which he still hadn't started yet, much to her disgust.

Harry sat around reading his Defence Against the Dark Arts book for awhile, but quickly grew bored and went to find Tatsu, who was in his room working on lesson plans for next year.

"How was Diagon Alley?" Tatsu enquired politely.

"Alright," Harry shrugged.

"Have you done you exercises yet today?"

"Yes," Harry replied, smiling.

"Do them again then, they _are_ good for you. I want your opinion on some of the things I want to do with the third years," Tatsu instructed him.

Harry sighed. He was getting more and more flexible now, and had once more taken up sparring with Tatsu every now and then. He was disgusted by how far he had fallen behind, but Tatsu forbade him to press himself, and they moved slowly through the forms when they did fight.

Harry chafed at the delay sometimes, he knew that Tatsu was only doing what was best for him. He began his back exercises, while Tatsu read out his lesson plans. "Aren't you going to teach them to enter the Centre?" he asked, surprised, not long after Tatsu started.

"No. The Centre is only for those who will become great fighters," Tatsu replied, "I may teach it to some of the seventh year students that I take on, but that all depends on how promising they are."

Harry nodded, for some strange reason feeling happy about that. He realised that he didn't _want_ loads of people being able to find their Centres, it was something that he usually thought was only for him and Moderators, though he knew that there were plenty of other people who managed to find the Centre.

When Tatsu had finished telling Harry what he had thought to do, and Harry had advised on possible changes, Harry was almost finished with his exercises, "If you need any help with teaching, you know I'll do what I can," Harry told Tatsu.

"I know," Tatsu replied, "And I may need to call on you in the later parts of the year," Harry wondered if his teacher had said 'later parts' of the year because he didn't think that Harry would be much use while his back was still so stiff and sore, but decided to let it lie.

Before Harry left, Neko came in to ask him the same sort of questions as Tatsu just had, so Harry restarted his exercises, feeling better to be doing something, while he talked to her.

When he went back downstairs, Ron had escaped from Hermione to go flying in the dusk with Fred and George, who had just come home from work. Harry did his best not to feel envious.

Despite that he had told Ron and Hermione, that he wouldn't be able to fly for most of the year, Harry had been doing his exercises as often as possible to try and recover full movement and pain relief before the school year started, in the hopes that he would be able to fly again.

It would seem that those hopes were in vain, as August was nearly over, and after August came September and school. Harry knew that it had been stupid to hope that he would recover from a broken back in three months, but he couldn't help hoping.

---

He went up to bed early, feeling sorry for himself, and feel asleep. That night he dreamed of Sirius.

"How are you going?" Sirius asked him, smiling, when they first met.

"Alright," Harry replied, "We went to Diagon Alley today to buy our school supplies."

Sirius nodded, "Did you buy anything other than school supplies?" he asked with some interest.

"Just some books on Defence Against the Dark Arts," Harry replied. "Do you want to go flying tonight?" he asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"Sure," Sirius replied. "Any reason why?"

"Ron's flying at the moment, with Fred and George," Harry replied. "And if I can't join them in the waking world, I can fly in my dreams with you instead."

Sirius smiled sadly, "You still can't fly?" he asked.

"No," Harry replied, as they each called Firebolts into being and took off. "I won't be able to fly for a long time yet. I still can't even fight if we move at all fast. Maybe by the end of the year I'll be able to fly again, but not now. Not in time to play Quidditch."

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "We can fly as often as you like in dreams, I promise you that."

Harry smiled at his godfather, and they took off. That night they had a great time, flying and diving, racing one another through scenes that varied from things that Harry remembered of the waking world to fantastic landscapes that could not exist upon the earth.

----

When morning came, he was sad to awaken to his life. His back hurt, as it always did, and Harry contemplated asking Snape for a pain relieving drought, as he did every morning, and, as always, decided against it.

He entered the Centre instead, and let the pain that his physical body endured wash through his mind like water. He could at least think, now, and concentrate on other things. He usually spent most of his morning in the Centre, just waking up and getting ready to face the new day.

Today, he, Tonks and Tatsu went shopping in Muggle London for Muggle clothes. Harry felt comfortable in the clothes that he had spent his childhood in, and Tatsu rarely ever wore robes, unless you counted kimonos.

Ron and Hermione stayed behind to do Ron's homework. Harry had to laugh at his red-headed friend, with Hermione always hanging over his shoulder making him do his homework. Harry had finished his in July, before his birthday came around, to Hermione's obvious approval.

Tonks saw to it that Harry bought some more trendy clothes, which Harry didn't mind at all. It was nice to know that he was wearing the latest crazes, which he'd never had a chance to do before last year.

They returned in the late afternoon, and found Ron out flying with his brothers and Ginny, and Hermione in a huff because he wasn't doing his homework like she was trying to make him do. Headmistress McGonagall was waiting in the kitchen when Harry arrived, and told him she wanted to talk to him.

Tatsu and Tonks left him there, and closed the door behind them. Harry knew that Mrs. Weasley had put a permanent ward against eavesdroppers which activated the moment that the door closed, just in case.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, smiling briefly at him. "How is your back?"

"As well as can be expected," Harry said stiffly. "I won't be able to fly for awhile yet though."

"A pity that, Mr. Potter. You were a great flyer. You are obviously unable to play Quidditch this year, which means that you will not be able to take the place of Gryffindor captain – that has been given to Mr. Weasley instead."

Harry nodded, feeling horrible. He could have been captain, but _no_, he had to break his bloody back. Now Ron got that as well, just like he'd gotten the Prefect position in fifth year when Dumbledore himself had admitted that it should have been Harry's, would have been Harry's, if Dumbledore hadn't thought that Harry would be 'too busy'.

He didn't mind, not really, about either event, but he was just feeling momentarily bitter. Besides, he'd been captain of a team last year, and had led them to victory. "Ron deserves the position," he said, knowing that it was true.

"As it is not our policy to have the Quidditch Captain of any House as Head Boy, because it means that they have little time for either job, as well as their studies, I wanted to offer _that_ job to you," McGonagall told Harry, "It is also not in our policy to ask if a student wishes to be Head Boy, but I understand that you have a lot on your plate, so I thought I would give the opportunity to decline, if that was your wish."

Harry just sat and stared at her for a moment, hardly able to believe it. She was offering him the position of _Head Boy_, after all the rules he'd broken, after all of the things that he'd done before … but Harry knew that he was of the few people in his year who really deserved the position. He'd managed to unite the school, which was what the Head students and the Prefects were supposed to do, along with upholding the rules.

"Who's the Head Girl?" Harry asked curiously, before he made his decision, he wouldn't want to be Head Boy if the Head Girl wasn't someone he could work with.

"Miss Granger's letter should arrive this evening," McGonagall replied, "But I would ask that you not reveal it to her until after she has received it. Do you have your answer now, or would you like a day to think about it? I can't give you much more than that, I'm afraid, because if you decline, we will have to notify the next on the list."

Harry hesitated for only a moment, before saying, "I accept."

* * *

Well, there is the end of the fifth chapter … still trying to get in contact with beta-reader … anyway, is there anyone who wants to go over all the chapters in the previous story? (In Every Darkness) for mistakes and such? My previous editor for that particular story is a lot busier at present and can't continue with her work.

My apologies for crazy updates at the moment. Exams are coming up, and I'm writing another story with my friend (which I've mentioned several times before) – that is really coming close to being posted now! After my exams are over (in a little over a week) I'll be working more on that and it should be up soon after that! (We hope …)

Thanks to:

Dumbeldave, JeanieBeanie33, Mulledmead, fcucking cathy, katepotter13, TuxedoMac, jbfritz, Emmo Barrows, Laen, Krodolin, moonypadfoot, Wytil, gina87, lyss33, QueenWeasel, shadowmonk, cantfindagoodname, Ezmeralda, NateP, uNoeWho, Quillian, Quillian, Quillian, Quillian.

Please keep reviewing! Your comments are appreciated, and I'll try to be better about updating … Also, rewriting Deceptions (my earliest story that has yet to be deleted) and might start posting that soon.


	6. The Hogwarts Express

_**Well, in just over three hours time, I'll be sitting the first of four exams ... Not happy ... but just because I'm not happy doesn't mean you guys can't be. I will probably update again on my Wednesday, or possibly Tuesday afternoon, after the exams are over ...**_

_****_

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Seven: The Hogwarts Express

On the morning of September the first, Harry and his friends raced around Grimmauld Place, frantically trying to find everything they needed before the first day of school.

Tatsu and Neko had packed the night before, and gone to Hogwarts then to settle in, along with Tonks, who was breaking the trend for the first time since Harry had started school, and probably before then, because the Twins hadn't appeared to have remembered Professor Quirrell, back in first year, and returning for her second year as a teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Molly and Arthur drove them to Kings Cross station in a car that they'd borrowed from one of the other Order members, Harry hadn't quite caught who. It was magically enchanted, just as Arthur's old car had been, to fit everyone and their luggage into the car, though, with only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny there wasn't that much need for the charm.

Once they reached the train, Harry and Hermione had to hurry off to the Prefects carriage, where they'd be meeting with the prefects for that year. Harry was amazed to find himself here – he hadn't been a Prefect, but then, his father _had_ set a precedent, he supposed.

No one who came to the carriage seemed in the least surprised to see Harry was Head Boy, which Harry felt oddly pleased about, and they all sat down to go over the plans for the year. Harry relied heavily on Hermione because he didn't understand exactly what was going on.

Soon enough, however, the meeting was over, and they could go and find their friends on the train and catch up after three months of absence. Harry and Hermione went to find Ron, and discovered him frantically trying to finish an assignment that he'd 'forgotten' about when Hermione had asked him what his assignments were.

Amused, Harry left the pair of them to it, knowing that there would be no dealing with either of them in the resulting argument. He decided he'd go and find Draco and Blaise, see what was going on with them.

"Hey, Harry," Blaise called softly from the final carriage. Harry walked inside and the door closed silently beside him. Blaise and Draco were alone in their carriage, which Harry found surprising.

"What happened to your court of Slytherin's?" Harry enquired, as Blaise gestured him into a seat.

"We told them to bugger off," Draco replied, looking Harry over. "Made Head Boy did you?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Ron's the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain," he added, though he doubted that Draco would have cared.

"Granger's Head Girl?"

"Yup," Harry replied. "You bet she is."

Draco smiled slightly. "I wasn't summoned much over the holidays," he told Harry, "But I have no doubt that I will be summoned more in the near future. My father was summoned around ten times, but on all but one of those I was instructed to remain behind."

"Any idea why?" Harry asked.

"Muggle killings or torturings," Draco replied, "I apparently get off those because I don't know the spells, and they can't teach me until next year without getting hurt ... between you and me, Potter – try and kill the Dark Lord before then."

Harry shivered, remembering the prophecy that said he had to. He wasn't sure if he wanted to kill Voldemort quickly or wait until he knew what he was doing ... well, he figured he wouldn't have that much choice in the matter. He would simply be placed in a situation where he could kill Voldemort, and he would do so. "I'll try," he assured the other boy.

Draco smiled, "I didn't mean that. You're only seventeen, aren't you? You can hardly be expected to kill the Dark Lord when you're so young and everyone else who ever tried was probably at least three times your age."

Yeah, but none of them had the stupid prophecy hanging over their heads, Harry thought, then shook off the thought. "Well, you two are looking fairly close," he remarked.

Blaise was sitting curled against Draco's side, and Draco was covering one of her hands with his own. Draco smiled again, this time almost possessively, "Oh, we are," he replied, though he said no more than that.

"Keep in touch," Harry advised. "If either of you ever need in any help, I hope you'll come to me – if it's something you think I can help with. If I can't help you, maybe I'll know someone who can."

Draco and Blaise nodded, and Harry exited the carriage, heading off to find Ron and Hermione. Ron was only a little way through his assignment and attempting to cajole answers out of Hermione, who wasn't having any of it. "Ron, if you couldn't get around doing your homework in the three months you had, I'm certainly not going to help you now!" she was saying when Harry arrived.

"But Hermione!" Ron said.

"No," Hermione interrupted him before he could finish the sentence.

"Can I stop this then?" Ron whined.

"Most certainly _not_!" Hermione's voice rose to a near shriek at that, "You will sit there, Ronald Weasley, until I _know_ you've finished that work! If you even try to leave I'll put you on detention for a week!"

"Hermione!" Ron looked shocked. "You wouldn't?"

"Are you willing to bet on that?" Hermione asked dangerously.

Ron considered for a moment, then muttered a sulky, "No," and got back to working on his homework. Harry sighed and took out a Defence book, settling down to read it for awhile.

As the trip wore on, members of DA wandered through the carriage and bid Harry a cheerful hello, most of them asking when the first DA meeting would be. Harry assured them all that he would post a time table on the noticeboard in the Entrance Hall so that everyone would know where to find him, and when.

Finally, just after darkness had fallen, the train reached the Hogsmeade Station. Harry was a little surprised that Voldemort hadn't tried to attack the train, but he thought that it might have been because of the defeat he'd suffered the last time he'd tried it.

Harry and his friends caught the carriages that now, unfortunately, most of the students could see were not actually horseless.

They were carried quickly to the school and shooed into the Great Hall to take their seats. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together, and everyone they hadn't seen on the train gathered around to talk loudly.

Soon everyone started finding seats and settling down to get ready for the Sorting, which would have to start soon. The doors opened and the new first year students marched into the hall, following Professor Flitwick, who had apparently been chosen as McGonagall's deputy.

The Sorting Hat was placed on its stool, and sung its song, which Harry paid very little attention to – it started out going on about the traditional values of the four Houses, which was just like it always was. There was no warning at the end of the song this year, and Harry let the words wash over him.

Flitwick called out the names, and the first years went to their tables. Harry clapped for everyone who was Sorted, and the rest of his friends picked up on the idea. It wasn't fair for only the House that the student was Sorted into to clap, every single first year deserved to feel welcomed by the whole school.

Once everyone had been sorted into their respective Houses, Headmistress McGonagall stood up for the welcome speech. "It is times like these when we all miss our former Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore the most," she began, and immediately put a damper on the spirits of those students who'd known the old Headmaster, "His place will always be a hard one to try and fill, but I will do my best.

"Arabella Figg, the castle's caretaker, wishes to inform you that the list of banned objects has been reviewed since last year, and several objects have been removed," she paused for the delighted sounds to dissipate, "But a few have also been added. I would advise that you check on that.

"The forest on the grounds is called the Forbidden Forest for a good reason. Any student found there will lose house points _and_ be placed on detention, unless they can give a _very_ good reason for being there," she was looking straight at Harry when she said that, he thought.

"Also, we have two new teachers at the school this year, Kendo Tatsu and Neko, who will be teaching you two different forms of Japanese combat. Tatsu will be teaching unarmed fighting techniques, and Neko will be teaching the use of the Katana. These classes are only open to third years and over. For those of you were not given an opportunity to chose it as a subject, there will be classes in the evenings and on weekends if you wish to learn anyway.

"Apart from that – welcome back to another year at Hogwarts, we will strive to make your year enjoyable, educational ... and above all, safe. Please, enjoy the feast."

She sat down amidst the cheers as the food appeared on the plates and everyone dug in. The feast was as enjoyable as always, and Harry focused on enjoying himself. Everyone had asked him how his back was feeling, and he gave the same basic reply, "As good as can be expected, I can't fly though."

The feast was as delicious as always, "The House Elves really have tried hard this year, huh," Harry remarked.

"Yeah, maybe it helps that Winky is at your place now," Ron replied. They hadn't seen much of the two House Elves that year at Grimmauld Place – they had been busy maintaining the house, which was quite a job, Harry thought.

Hermione sniffed slightly. She hadn't been at all deterred from S.P.E.W., despite the fact that it was increasingly obvious that the House Elves enjoyed being enslaved.

Harry, as the Head Boy, had to go with Hermione to meet with McGonagall for a moment before they went up to the common rooms. "Ah, yes," she smiled at the two of them, "Two Head Students from Gryffindor, it's been awhile since that happened. You two will be in charge of calling Prefect meetings, so you had better remember about them, because I do expect fortnightly reports on the doings of the Prefects."

"Of course, Headmistress," Hermione replied, "And, thank you for picking me as Head Girl!"

"You deserve your position," McGonagall replied, "Now, off to bed with you two, it's been a long day and you'll want to be fresh for classes in the morning."

That night Harry fell asleep with a contented smile on his face.

* * *

Well, that's the end of chapter six, and we're already back at Hogwarts. It took me five times less than it did last story (chapter wise)! I THINK that's a good thing ... No thanks this time, because updating was a spur of the moment type thing, and I need to get ready for exams ...

WolfMoon


	7. First Day Back

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Seven: First Day Back

Harry woke the next morning feeling, on a whole, rather excited about being back at Hogwarts. He headed down to the Great Hall early, and found Tatsu and Neko both awake and sitting at the staff table, drinking green tea.

"Good morning," Harry said brightly.

"Ohayo goziamushita," Neko said sleepily. Harry knew that this meant 'good morning' in Japanese. Tatsu added, "Ohayo," which simply meant 'morning'.

"Tired?" Harry asked.

"Nervous," Neko replied. "I've never taught someone who wasn't a Modifier as well as, in every case but yours, Japanese. Most of those I taught also knew something about what they were doing, which no one here will."

Harry smiled sympathetically, "Teaching sounds almost as hard as learning," he remarked. "I don't think I'd want to be a teacher."

"You already are – you teach DA, do you not?" Tatsu pointed out.

"That's different," Harry argued. "I _lead_ DA, and I have help with all the teaching stuff from Hermione. I know all the spells, and most of the spells are one's that my 'student's' are familiar with. You're proposing to teach them something that they aren't in the least bit familiar with, it'll be a lot harder."

Tatsu shrugged slightly. "Have you done your exercises this morning?" he asked, changing the subject. Harry let him, figuring that his friends hardly needed to be reminded of what was facing them.

"No," Harry replied.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tatsu demanded, smiling slightly.

Harry sighed, and began his exercises beside the staff table, continuing his conversation with his guardian without pause. When the older students, who were used to waking up early, came in, they were obviously surprised to see Harry there, and the exercises seemed to surprise them as well, until they remembered Harry's broken back.

They avoided his eyes, as if trying to pretend that they didn't feel pity for him. Harry ignored them, just talking with Tatsu and Neko as he finished his exercises. The rest of the teachers arrived not long before he finished, but all of them had seen Harry in the holidays, doing his exercises at Grimmauld Place.

Once he'd finished, Harry went to the Gryffindor table and sat, waiting for his friends to turn up. Hermione came down not long after, and sat beside Harry, eating quickly, already reading a book on Transfiguration.

Ron didn't come down until just before classes were due to start, and earned himself a very stern glance from Hermione. Harry wasn't particularly surprised – Ron had been sleeping in until almost eleven most mornings by the end of the holidays. Coupled with last night's rather late ending, Harry was almost surprised to see Ron in time for breakfast at all.

They were given their time tables, and Harry was happy to discover they had Defence Against the Dark Arts first. "Great," Ron muttered sullenly as they walked, carrying a bun that he'd been able to grab before Harry and Hermione dragged him off to class. "A subject were we'll probably have to do something."

"You'll have to do something in _all_ of your subjects," Hermione remarked, sounding a little put out by Ron's lack of enthusiasm – he usually enjoyed Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"I mean, like, move around and stuff," Ron said. "I wouldn't mind writing, I don't have to think _too_ much, and I don't have to move. It's too early to be thinking about moving."

Harry rolled his eyes, while Hermione said, "I _told_ you that you should have gotten used to getting up early in the last week of the holidays."

"Leave me alone," Ron muttered as they reached their classroom and Tonks swung the door open cheerfully.

"Morning!" she said brightly to the gathered class, and turned to walk back into the room, tripping over a chair let and hopping in a rather ungainly fashion to keep her balance.

Used to this from the year before, the class didn't comment on her lack of balance. They all knew she could balance just fine when it came down to important things, namely fighting.

Tonks began the class with calling the register, then looked around at everyone, "Well, I hope you've all been practicing over the Summer, since you could actually _use_ magic."

Harry and Hermione had done a lot of practice with all of the magic that they would need this year at school, but Ron had pretty much only joined them for duelling practice, especially after being made Quidditch captain – he'd had the excuse that he had to go and make plans for the season.

Ron had been more irresponsible than he usually was that summer, and no one was quite sure why. He'd spent most of his time flying, almost as if he was forcing home the point that Harry couldn't fly anymore, though Harry didn't think that it was on purpose. He also spent a lot of time with Fred and George, often going to visit them in their shop.

Tonks dragged Harry up to the front of the class and had a duel with him, to remind people exactly how these things worked. Harry didn't give the duel his all, because he didn't think it would be a good idea to beat Tonks on the first day back at school, and the match ended with a stalemate.

That done, the class separated into pairs and duelled with each other, showing off what spells they knew. Tonks cut the duels short about halfway into the lesson and sat everyone down, bringing Harry up the front again to demonstrate a new shield charm, and a couple of new curses, which everyone was then requested to practice.

It was an exhausting lesson, and by the end of it, Harry had to agree that it probably wasn't the best thing to be hit with on the first morning after the holidays. It didn't make it any easier, for him at least, that he had Potions next.

"Are they trying to kill us?" he wondered aloud as he and Hermione walked down to the Potions classroom.

Hermione gave him a slightly disapproving look.

"I don't mind the classes, I'm just saying that they aren't necessarily arranged in an easy order today," Harry told her. "Ron does have a point – after three months of relaxation, coming into Tonks and Snape's classes will be a shock to the system."

"You're right, I guess," she agreed, "But I'm enjoying myself!"

"I know you are," Harry sighed, Hermione thrived on lessons, the harder the better. He didn't know how she did it – he didn't mind them, sure, but he was always happy to have some free time.

They walked together into the Potions classroom, where Snape and several of their classmates, though far from all, were already seated. "Sit," the Potions Master instructed coolly the moment they entered the room. Harry and Hermione did so quickly. It was not a good idea to upset Snape on the first day of school.

Slowly the rest of the class arrived and took their seats. Snape just barked a page number and the name of a potion at them, informing them that they would have to work out the entire Potion from what the book gave them, which was only just enough.

Harry was, once again, very glad for the help that Michael McGonagall, who had relieved Snape was Potions Master last year and this year had taken up the post of Transfiguration, which his aunt had given up to become Head Mistress. Michael had come to Harry the previous summer and offered to help him learn Potions – Sirius had been helping too, in Harry's dreams.

_Isn't this being a little hard on them? It's their first day back from the summer holidays and you expect them to just pick up on everything they need_? (1) Remus Lupin remarked to Severus Snape as the students got their things out and started work.

**This is advanced potions,** Severus pointed out coolly, **if they can't make a potion on their own, without me standing over their shoulders, they don't deserve to be in this class. First day or not, they are capable students**.

_Even Harry_? Remus asked, pleasantly surprised at the praise that Severus was awarding his students. He knew that Severus's attitude toward Harry had been lightening recently, but he wondered how far it would go.

**Even Potter**, Severus said, sounding a little annoyed at the admission. He still hadn't completely accepted Harry as a different person. He was willing to treat the boy with a little more fairness than he once had, but that did not mean it was an easy transaction for him to make.

Severus, keeping one eye on his class in case of accidents, started working through a pile of essays that he had received from his third year class of Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's. This particular one from a Gryffindor, one Natalie MacDonald.** Marking work is a lot harder with you around**, Severus remarked to Remus as he read through the essay.

_Why? Because you have to think, instead of just awarding Slytherin's A, or B, Ravenclaw's B or B, Hufflepuff's D, D or C, and Gryffindor's D?_ Remus enquired.

**Just that**, Severus replied.

_This Natalie seems to have a fairly good idea of what she's talking about. She has all the information and it's presented fairly well_, Remus said, thinking over the essay that Severus was currently reading through.

**She rambles**, Severus pointed out.

_They all ramble, even your Slytherin's,_ Lupin reminded him, _if you are going to ask for that many rolls of parchment, on something as mundane as this, you can expect nothing less_.

Severus muttered rebelliously, mostly along the lines of **it's not mundane**, and **three isn't that many rolls to request**, as he scrawled a B on Natalie's paper.

At the end of the period, Severus gestured to everyone to bring their work up to his desk and then dismissed them. Everyone had done a good job at their potions, and he would really be force to award all of them in the range of A-B.

When everyone else had left, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini remained in the room. "Can I help you?" Severus enquired. He had expected Draco, but Blaise was another matter entirely, as she was just one of the Slytherin girls. Severus knew that Draco had dumped Pansy, and that Blaise had seemed to have taken her place, but he wasn't sure if that was just because Draco didn't like Pansy, or if there was something more between him and Blaise ... he knew that Blaise's parents had died the previous school year, victims of the Dark Lord.

"Could we speak in your office?" Draco requested politely. Severus had told Draco before that his office was warded against eavesdroppers, magical or otherwise, and that it would be a safe place for them to talk.

Severus calmly collected his marking and stood up, "Of course," he replied calmly, while his mind raced, trying to decide what Draco wanted to talk to him about. Clearly something that involved Blaise, and probably something he wanted no one else finding out about, otherwise he would not have asked to speak in Severus's office.

Inside his office, Severus sat behind his desk and gestured for the two Slytherin's to sit in front of it, which they did. Draco got straight to the heart of matters, which was unusual for him, "Sir, Blaise want's to be like us."

"A Death Eater spy, that is," Blaise said eagerly, "Reporting back to Harry, or whoever it is that Harry reports to now that Dumbledore is dead."

"She knows?" Severus was surprised by this breach of silence from Draco – it was not what he expected of the boy, but then again, he had always thought that Draco would follow his father to the Dark Lord's service.

"Of course she does," Draco replied, "It was Blaise that took me to Harry in the first place, and him who, as you know, brought me to you. I trust Blaise with my life."

Severus nodded, but he was thinking _will that be the price you pay for your trust_? But he did not say that aloud. "Is there any reason for this request, Draco? It is ... most unusual," he said, pushing for more information before he actually said anything in favour or against.

To his surprise, both blushed slightly, "We're ... interested in each other, Professor," Blaise said delicately, "And Lucius was hardly happy with Draco dumping his Pure-blooded chosen consort, a girl who came from a 'respectable' Death Eater family, for me. While I'm a pureblood, the Dark Lord recently killed my parents, so Lucius hardly approves of ... us."

"If Blaise joined the Dark Lord's ranks and made every appearance of a willing servant, however, my father would have no problems," Draco finished, smiling slightly at Blaise, who smiled slightly back.

Severus sighed, why were teenagers suddenly becoming so complicated? "Blaise, I don't think you know what you are asking for," he remarked.

"I know that it will be painful, and that I will have to do things that I won't like _at all_, but I love Draco, and I'm prepared to do that for him. Besides, I'd be helping the light as well, wouldn't I? I could play an active part in this war, and an important one."

Severus sighed, "Very well ... I will begin to teach you Occlumency, which you will have to learn before you could even consider going near to the Dark Lord, and until you learn it, you can reflect on your chosen course of action. I will show you some of my memories from Death Eater attacks – you will not chose to join the Death Eaters unless you know exactly what that entails on your behalf."

Draco and Blaise nodded solemnly, "I hardly need stress that word of our meetings being any more than something normal would be a very bad thing. To those Slytherin's who ask and are in favour of the Dark Lord, I am teaching you knew curses with which you will be able to better serve the Dark Lord. To those against him, you are learning some more advanced Potions than what I can teach the rest of the class, you are both good enough at Potions not to make the idea ludicrous."

Both of them nodded, "Thank you very much, Professor," Draco said softly, before he and Blaise left the room, closing the door behind them. Severus rubbed his temples before going back to marking the third year essays. He would have to get on top of his marking as quickly as possible, after all, he had asked for summer essays from every one of his classes, and they would take him some time to get through.

_Well, a Malfoy finding love. There's a thought I hadn't thought to see any time soon_, Lupin remarked.

**He has changed enough for me to believe that his feelings are sincere, though I am a little surprised to see her going to such lengths for him. And in his own way, he for her.**

* * *

(1) – for those of you who don't remember from In Every Darkness, Snape-Lupin conversations, written in **bold **(for Severus) and _italics_ (for Lupin) are silent transactions and no one can actually hear what they say.

Well, exams are over and while I still have to go to school, much less pressure now. Hopefully there will be more updates soon! Thank you to all reviewers!

WolfMoon


	8. Flying

A somewhat morbid authors note …

_On this day, eight years past, my grandmother passed from life into Death. On this day, eight years later, we scattered her ashes to the four elements. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Let her find peace and joy eternal in the life beyond Death. _

_I believe that she would have wanted to see me come into my own as a writer, and in her honour, I upload this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it, as I am sure she would have, should she have lived to see this day._

* * *

**_Shines A Light_**

Chapter Eight: Flying

The days began to pass rather quickly after the first one, falling into a numbing routine of classes, homework, study for exams, eating and sleeping … and for Harry, finding time to do his back exercises several times a day, and attend Tatsu and Neko's two evening classes in self defence. He was getting better at moving, though still far from where he wanted to be.

September passed into October, and Ron called the Quidditch trials. He invited Harry to attend and help him chose the candidates for the team, but Harry denied. He didn't want to watch other people fly when he couldn't himself. It was depressing.

"_I will take you flying if you wish it, brother_," Grypis offered as Ron shook his head and walked away, not appearing to understand Harry in the least. Harry didn't mind too much about Ron, but he was still feeling left out.

"_Thank you. I would enjoy that_," Harry replied.

"_Come with me then, we'd better go out onto the roof if I am to take off with the additional weight, and we would not want anyone to see. Griffins are rare, and it would be a shame to have the Ministry crawling all over Hogwarts searching for one,_" Grypis told Harry, who nodded calmly, and they left the common room together, finding a place where they could get onto a roof easily.

Harry cast illusion charms on the both of them and Grypis changed into his true form so that no one who saw them would know what they were seeing, and then Harry scrambled up onto Grypis's back, settling a little uncomfortably just behind Grypis's wings.

"_You are not comfortable now, but you will soon yet used to it,"_ Grypis assured him, "_You will simply need to ride fairly often for awhile, and it will feel as natural as flying on a broom to you._"

"_Right, I'll keep that in mind. Riding Buckbeak wasn't too bad, four years back, I'm sure I can get used to riding you_."

Suddenly, almost without warning, Grypis bounded forward off the edge of the roof and into open air, huge wings catching the air and sweeping down to send them aloft. Harry clung tightly to Grypis as they flew, circling over the Forbidden Forest.

Harry glanced down at the Quidditch pitch for a moment, seeing that there were several people there, flying around. He didn't care about them any more – he was flying with Grypis, and it was amazing.

"_Enjoying yourself_?" Grypis asked.

"_Yes!_" Harry replied.

"_Good_," Grypis said, and Harry could hear the smile in his voice. They flew on for a little while, and then Grypis turned back toward the castle. "_I have enjoyed flying_," the griffin told Harry, "_But I am unaccustomed to the extra weight, as we fly more, I will be able to fly for longer_."

"_That's ok_," Harry replied calmly as they landed. He slipped from Grypis's back and the griffin changed into a cat.

"_Now you get to carry me_," Grypis informed Harry, who laughed and picked him up, carrying him back up to the Gryffindor common room to do the homework that Tonks had assigned, which was to research one of the curses that she'd taught them since school returned. Over the course of the previous year, Tonks had slowly gotten used to the idea of giving the students homework, and although she was still one of the more easy-going teachers – she never gave them a minimum amount of parchment, for example – she was getting worse, in the students eyes.

Hermione was there as well, seemingly waiting for Harry, "Where have you been?" Hermione asked.

"Around, looking for Grypis," Harry replied, setting the griffin-turned-cat on the ground and sitting beside Hermione.

"Ron's out on the Quidditch pitch, trying to pick the new team," Hermione remarked.

"I know, he asked if I wanted to go and help," Harry replied, "I declined the invitation."

Hermione nodded. She was unsure as to how Harry felt when it came to flying and his inability to do so. She knew that he _wanted_ to fly, but she wasn't sure if he was angry when Ron rubbed it in his face that he could fly when Harry couldn't. Come to think of it, she wasn't even sure that Ron was aware of what he was doing. It would be just like him.

"Have you done the homework for Tonks?" Harry asked.

"I was just about to get started," Hermione replied, "I saw the Defence Against the Dark Arts book that you've been reading – can I borrow it when you're done? The library doesn't have it yet."

"Sure," Harry replied, "I've read through it already, but now I'm going through again and selecting what I want to teach to the DA."

Hermione nodded, "I can wait," she replied calmly, "But it does look interesting."

"It is," Harry assured her, "There are some pretty interesting new spells that I haven't heard of before in it … I'm thinking of taking those to Tonks and seeing what she thinks of them before I go so far as to try them myself."

"Good idea," Hermione replied, "You'd want to know exactly what could go _wrong_ with them, because most people do get spells wrong when they first try them."

Together they settled down to do their homework, while Grypis settled on Harry's lap, purring contentedly. Ron came in hours later, along with the group of hopefuls who'd gone to try out for the Quidditch team.

"Well, we have a team," Ron said, sitting down next to Harry happily. "Ginny took over Seeker again, because she was the only one who was remotely good at it, and we filled the rest of the places as well."

"Good to hear," Harry said, trying to sound enthusiastic for Ron's benefit, but not sure if he even came _close_ to pulling it off. This was almost as bad as fifth year, when he'd been banned from Quidditch – but at least then he'd known he had the ability to fly. Now the only thing that was standing in the way of him and flying was his own injury.

"That homework for Tonks needs to be done," Hermione remarked to Ron.

"It's not due in for another week," Ron protested. Tonks had only given them the homework that morning.

"So?" Hermione demanded calmly, "You've got other assignments that you have to do, and now that the Quidditch team will be practicing, and you're going to two of Tatsu's classes and one of Neko's, you don't have much time. The teachers are giving us more and more work, and you'll get swamped down if you don't get things done as soon as you can."

"But," Ron protested.

"She's right Ron. You still have that Charms assignment too, and that was given to you nearly a week ago," Harry pointed out, "It's due in the day after tomorrow."

"Dammit!" Ron cried, "I'd forgotten all about that!"

"Go and get it," Hermione instructed him, a dangerous note to her voice, she was getting rather annoyed at Ron's less than enthusiastic response to his class work. In her opinion, it had been going alright until the Twins got to him over summer and pretty much destroyed all the work that Hermione had done to get Ron into the habit of studying over the course of their sixth year.

Ron hurried to do so – with the assignment due in so soon, he had no choice, really. When he came back down, Harry was already nearly finished his own assignment, and Hermione had completed hers and was reading through it.

She stood over Ron while the other boy got his things out and got to work. "You aren't going to dinner until you've finished that thing, and if it isn't done well, you aren't going to bed until I'm happy with it," she warned Ron, who grumbled.

"I'm going to go and find Tatsu and Neko," Harry said, and Hermione nodded absently. Harry took his assignment and the Defence book with him, figuring that since Tonks' office was near to Tatsu and Neko's, he might as well visit her, drop off the assignment and ask her advice at the same time.

"Wotcha Harry," Tonks greeted him when Harry knocked on the door and pocked his head inside. "Come on in."

Harry pushed the door fully open and came inside. Tonks' office was the epitome of disaster, papers scattered all over the floor, some personal belongings stacked haphazardly on shelves that were groaning under the weight of dusty volumes.

Tonks was standing in the middle of the room, looking around with a bemused expression on her face. "What's wrong?" Harry asked her, picking his way delicately across the room to stand beside her, trying not to step on the papers all over the floor.

"I was trying a new a spell and the bloody thing went and sent _all_ of the paper work over the floor," she replied, "Now I'm trying to find all of the assignments that I was marking for my third years – they're around here somewhere."

Harry sighed, "Want a hand reorganising things?" he asked.

Tonks gave him a look, "Who said they were organised in the first place?" she asked.

"OK, would you like help in organising things?" Harry smiled.

"That would be appreciated," Tonks replied. "You know what I'm like when it comes to organization."

"All too well," Harry replied with a smile. "_Accio parchment_," he said, waving his wand. All of the parchment leapt off the floor and onto Tonks' desk, all of it was neatly piled in a single towering stack in the middle of the desk.

Tonks eyed it nervously.

"It's not organised yet, but at least it's all in one place," Harry remarked to Tonks, "Now we can break the piles into smaller ones and get to organising them."

Tonks brightened at that, "You'll help with that too?" she asked.

"Yes," Harry assured her. "You know, there are drawer in this desk for a _reason_, Tonks," he added, walking behind the desk. Tonks followed him.

"Oh yeah, I know," she said brightly, "I just haven't gotten around to putting things in them yet. I'll get there."

Harry sighed. "Why don't we name the seven drawers down this side of the desk 'First year through to seventh year?" he suggested. "Then you can put the assignments they give you in the drawers, and you'll know where they are."

"There's an idea," Tonks muttered thoughtfully, "You know Harry, I just might do that!"

Harry laughed, and together they used spells to magically write the words on the front of the drawer, so that Tonks could find them easily. Then they started going through the stack of papers on the desk. Some of them were letters, which Tonks put in the drawers on the other side of her desk.

It had long since gone dark by the time that Harry finished there, and Tonks thanked him profusely, because the desk was now completely organised, and she was back to marking her essays. Harry left his own with her, but took the Defence book with him again, figuring that he could come back and ask her for help later on, when she was in a bit of a better state of mind and organisation.

Harry walked around a corner and pushed open the door to Tatsu and Neko's office without knocking. Over the weeks since school had returned, they had all become used to Harry's comings and goings.

Inside was a third year boy, chubby and lazy looking, in Harry's estimation. He was talking with Tatsu and looking rather angry, though Tatsu remained calm and collected. The boy stopped talking when Harry walked into the room, and it took Harry a moment to place him.

The boy had joined DA for a little while at the beginning of the previous year, but had dropped out almost immediately, not having the stamina nor the inclination to keep up with the work. Harry had heard him telling his friends that he already knew most of what Harry had to teach him. He was a braggart, and someone who was attracted to fighting, but without the self control to learn properly.

"Am I interrupting?" Harry enquired politely of Tatsu, ignoring the boy. Tatsu's student visitors were no business of his. "I can come back later."

"Neko is in the kitchen making green tea," Tatsu replied, "Join her, if you wish. I will be done in a little while and will join you then."

Harry nodded, and walked past Tatsu to push open the door set in the side wall. Behind that door were the living quarters of the two professors. They had demanded to have a room with a kitchen, meaning no offence to the house elves, but Neko enjoyed cooking, and she preferred to make her own green tea.

"He is still talking to the boy?" Neko asked when she saw Harry.

Harry nodded, "Is he in Tatsu's class?" he asked.

"Yes," Neko said, "Why, do you not know him?"

"Only a little. He joined DA for a time, but left soon after, lacking the self discipline to continue and learn properly," Harry replied. He knew that, as a teacher, Neko would want to know exactly what Harry knew of the boy, even if it wasn't particularly polite.

Neko merely inclined her head, "That certainly rings true with what I know of him," she remarked. "Which is very little, Tatsu knows more, and does not like what he knows."

"Is he in Tatsu's third year class?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately," Tatsu said, pushing the door open, with a very weary look on his face. "He has been trying to tell me that my teaching is flawed, because he is not learning anything from me. I felt obliged to inform him that everyone else is learning perfectly well, and suggested that perhaps the problem lay with him."

"I take it he didn't like that," Harry remarked, smiling a little.

"He did not like it at all. Told me he would get his father to talk to the school on his behalf. I told him he could speak with his father all he wanted, it would come to nothing," Tatsu said, sounding rather disgusted.

Harry outright laughed, "Quite right," he said, "McGonagall isn't about to fire you on the recommendation of one third year boy's parents, and the Minister of Magic herself knows who you are and approves of your teaching methods. If it comes to court, which it shouldn't, I'll give evidence."

Tatsu smiled, "My thanks for the offer," he replied, "As you said, it should not be necessary, but it is good to know I have your support, just in case."

"Green tea?" Neko enquired, offering Tatsu a cup, which he accepted with an expression of such thankfulness that both Harry and Neko had to smile. Harry accepted his own cup, for a little while they were all silent while they drank their tea.

"Do you want to run through your exercises? I think I may have some more for you to do now," Tatsu offered.

Harry nodded. He was in the process of modifying his entire routine of exercises to make them more challenging to try and push his body to the limits, and from there get better.

When he returned to the Gryffindor tower far later that night, Harry was completely exhausted, and his back hurt a lot, but he wore a smile on his face. He was improving, slowly yes, but steadily also.

"Where have you been? I was getting worried," Hermione said when Harry came through the portrait hole.

"Tonks tried a new spell and it blew her papers all over the office floor," Harry replied, "I helped her tidy up, and then went to visit Tatsu and Neko to go over my routine of exercises and change them to make them more challenging."

"Do you really _want_ them more challenging?" Hermione asked doubtfully, "They hurt, don't they?"

"You've been going to Tatsu's classes for over a month, Hermione," Harry pointed out, "You should know by now that you have to push yourself to the very limits, continuously, if you are going to make any great improvements. I'm determined to overcome my disabilities as quickly as possible so that I can get back to my normal life."

Hermione nodded with a sigh, "I just hate to you in pain," she told him. "You've been through a lot, and it's not fair that you have to go through even more."

Harry shrugged, "Life isn't fair. I've learned to live with that," he replied, "It's something I've accepted, and now I have to make the best of what I have. Did Ron finish his homework?"

"He finished the Charms, but it still needs more work," Hermione replied, "He disappeared after dinner, rather than come back here where he knew I'd make him go over it again."

"If he doesn't want to do his homework, you shouldn't make him, Hermione," Harry told her, "He needs to learn it on his own."

"But he could fail his NEWTs," Hermione said, "I couldn't let him do that!"

"He has to learn on his own to find a balance," Harry replied. "Let him go for a couple of weeks and let him learn to do his own work. If he doesn't pick it up, then start nagging him again."

Hermione hesitated, then nodded. "I suppose you're right," she admitted. "I just don't want to see him fail."

"Neither do I. But it won't help him in later life he doesn't do anything unless he's nagged to do it," Harry told her calmly, "It's hard, but sometimes you just have to step back and let things run their course."

Hermione nodded. "Right," she said.

"I'm going up to bed, my back hurts like hell," Harry said, rubbing the small of his back with a grimace. "But at least if it's hurting, I know something is happening. When it stops hurting, I've become complacent."

Hermione gave him a worried glance, "Well, you take care. You don't want to make it worse."

"I know," Harry replied. "I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

Thanks to:

JeanieBeanie, Ezmerelda, shadowmonk, Emma Barrows, TuxedoMac, uNoeWho, FreedomStar, Kordolin, Dumbeldave, lyss33, hpfanchrissy1502, Katesari, cantfindagoodname, murdrax.

WolfMoon


	9. Shattered Peace

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Nine: Shattered Peace

Days more passed, and Ron rejoiced in the fact that Hermione had stopped hounding him. Harry and Hermione both did not mention homework to him, and as a consequence, a week later he had nothing to give to Tonks when the day came around. Neither Harry nor Hermione commented on it, though Ron earned himself a detention.

He came back complaining, and Hermione informed him that if he'd actually made the effort himself, he wouldn't have had the detention in the first place. After that, Ron just complained quietly, where Hermione couldn't hear him.

"Let him go," Harry repeated softly to Hermione that night, when Ron went to bed early, complaining of soreness after having to clean trophies without magic. "He'll get there eventually."

Hermione only nodded, and Harry went to the Room of Requirement to do his exercises and practicing magic duelling, and using a Katana, which he had had little time for since he broke his back. He was disgusted by how far behind he'd gotten. He hadn't been attending Neko's classes, because she was still going through stretches and learning how to hold a Katana, not actually doing anything. The exercises were basically the one's that Harry was already doing himself, and he knew how to hold a sword, so he had no reason to go.

He practiced a little with the Katana, and was happy to note that his back didn't hurt as much as it might have, had he tried this a month before hand. The extra training was doing him good, it seemed. Pain, however, soon returned when he had been working for only a short time. Harry stopped working with the Katana and sighed. He would not push his skills with the sword as much as he had pushed himself in his exercises. Perhaps it would be best to work on one thing at a time.

Harry put down his katana and settled down on a chair that appeared the moment he thought of it, leaning back and relaxing his body completely, seeking the sanctuary of the Centre, and finding it with the ease of long practice. Grypis came slipping up to Harry's side, rubbing his head against Harry's hand.

"_Your skill will return, Gryfas_," Grypis assured Harry calmly, "_Give your body time to recover. You know full well that most Muggles who suffered what you did would find them confined to a wheelchair for life. You have been given the chance to find your life anew … but you must work for the privilege. Do not despair._"

Harry smiled, and scratched under his friends chin, "I know," he sighed, "But I grow tired of waiting for things to come to me. It is difficult to watch to watch Ron bragging about the Quidditch games and so forth, when he knows that I cannot be a part of it."

"_Perhaps he thinks he does you a kindness by keeping you informed of what is going on in Quidditch. Perhaps he feels that he can he can let you live through him,"_ Grypis remarked. "_I know you do not appreciate it, but I am sure that your friend believes he has your best interests at heart._"

"He has a funny way of showing it," Harry groused.

"_Would you like to fly_?" Grypis asked.

"It is dark," Harry pointed out.

"_So? I can fly in the dark as easily as in the daytime. It matters not to me. Flying in the darkness is amazing, you must experience it!"_ Grypis said happily, "_Come! Let us go!_"

Harry smiled and followed Grypis from the room. Grypis certainly had Harry's best interests at heart. It was the perfect way to make him cheer up – even if it wasn't Quidditch, and it wasn't a broom he was riding, at least he would be in the air. At present, Harry did not even have a broom. He had given the Firebolt to Ginny on a semi-permanent loan, at least until he recovered enough to fly it himself.

They went back to their rooftop, and Grypis changed back to his true form. Harry clambered up onto his back, and Grypis took off. In the darkness, flying was far different from anything Harry had experienced before. The moon was only a silver of silver in a midnight sky, and gave off little light. The castle also gave off some light, but not huge amounts of it.

They turned and flew gracefully over the Forbidden Forest, Grypis's wings sweeping with a soothing rhythm, and Harry let his body relax into the movement. It was different from riding a broom, different, too, from riding a hippogriff, Harry decided on this, his second flight.

"_Are you enjoying yourself?_" Grypis asked quietly, after a little while.

"_Yes_," Harry replied.

"_Where do you wish to go?_"

"_Can you fly us as far as Hogsmeade?_" Harry asked, "_I know you aren't used to the weight, so I don't mind if you can't get us there_."

"_I might be able to. I will see. We shall fly as far as I can in that direction. I will know when I am too tired to go on and still make it back, it is something all griffins can tell_," Grypis said calmly, and they flew on, over the shadowed, half seen treetops of the Forbidden Forest.

They reached the edge of the Forest, and Harry looked ahead, searching for Hogsmeade.

"_Harry, I grow tired. We must return. Perhaps we will make it to Hogsmeade in a few weeks, when I have had some practice_," Grypis said suddenly, about to turn, when, at the same time, he and Harry spotted Hogsmeade in the distance. Light was flashing, as if a huge fire had been made, and multi-coloured flashes could just be seen.

"_Grypis! There must be Death Eaters! We have to go and help!_" Harry said, "_No one else would be attacking!"_

"_I know,_" Grypis said, turning back. "_I will be able to get you there, but I will not be able to get you back again_."

Harry hesitated for only a second, "_We go, they will need all the help they can get, as soon as they can get it. Could you fly back to Hogwarts in eagle form with a note for Tatsu_?"

"_I expect so, I will try_," Grypis replied.

"_Thank you_," Harry replied. Every beat of Grypis's wings carried them closer to Hogsmeade, and they watched as the fire grew brighter, higher. Grypis was flying faster now, and soon they had reached the outskirts of the town. Grypis settled down and Harry grabbed some parchment and a quill from his pocket.

"_Help. Hogsmeade. DE's."_

That was all he wrote, and he handed it to Grypis, who had changed into his eagle form and accepted the note calmly, taking off again into the night, as Harry drew his wand from his sleeve, green eyes frighteningly calm. His back ached, but he was in his Centre, and he did not really notice. He would do whatever was necessary now to fight the Death Eaters here, not matter what it did to him.

He walked into the town. It was the Hogs Head that was burning so brightly, and Harry felt a stab of pity – it was that place where DA had been formed, and he felt some sentimental attachment to the place. But he could not put out the fire and stop the Death Eaters from killing everyone. He did not know how long they had been here, and he really needed to find everyone who was alive.

He figured the best idea would be to follow the flashes, and they led him down the main street until he reached the Post Office and Dervish and Bangs. Most of the people lived outside the town in the first place, and so the Death Eaters would not have had much to do on the main street.

Out there, however, Harry could see the Death Eaters laughing and cursing the people of the town. They were delighting in torture and baiting. They must have stolen most of the wands, though there were a few people hanging around behind the houses, who were trying to stop the Death Eaters and who still had their wands.

Harry watched as one of the Death Eaters used _crucio_ on a girl who could not have been much older than five or six. The girl writhed and screamed, while her mother struggled, screaming, to reach her.

"_Stupefy_," Harry whispered, pointing his wand at the Death Eater who had performed the curse. Red light blazed through the air and struck the masked figure, which fell and struck the ground with a painful thump. The girls' mother ran to her, gathering her up and hugging her tightly, but one of the other Death Eaters sent a flash of green light, and the mother fell, dead, smothering the child.

Harry felt tears gather in his eyes. It was not fair that one so young had to go through something like that. He would try and get the girl out from there; he would try and get them all out. "_Stupefy_," he said again, pointing at another Death Eater, but he hung back, not wanting to get too close to the action until he had someone else with him.

He moved around, so that the Death Eaters couldn't tell where his spells came from, and picked his targets carefully, aiming for those Death Eaters who were just about to cast spells, especially trying to protect the children. He met up with some of those who had escaped and who were hiding out.

"Harry Potter?" one of them asked when he came across a little gathering of them.

"Yes, I'm here to help," Harry replied, "I've sent a note to Hogwarts; hopefully more people will be here soon. We have to try and keep as many people alive as possible. I would advise that you only aim curses at the Death Eaters who are about to perform a spell."

They nodded. "Let anyone else you find know," Harry added, and slipped through the houses, whispering, "_Expilliarmus_," and stealing a Death Eater's wand. His huge bank of curses was serving him well, as he struggled to even the odds against those poor souls trapped within the town.

The Death Eaters were getting nervous, because so far they had done fairly well about keeping those who were attacking them away, but now the fight back had really begun. Harry slipped very close to the group of Death Eaters, and pulled the girl whose mother had been killed from under her body. The girl had gone silent with shock, but when Harry pulled her out, she threatened to start screaming.

"Hush, I'm your friend, I'm going to get you out of here," Harry told her, and she fell silent. Harry picked her up and carried her away. One of the Death Eaters saw him retreating and went to curse him, but a volley of curses from the houses stopped him.

When Harry reached the safety line, a man came forward and took the girl from his arms, "I'm her father," he told Harry, hugging the girl to his chest. "Did you see-"

"Her mother is gone," Harry replied softly, eyes filling with tears.

Face contorted with grief, the man took his daughter away.

A short time later, Tatsu and Neko arrived on the scene, along with most of the staff and several members of the DA – all of them Gryffindors, fifth years and up, because Tatsu and Neko had summoned Ron and Hermione, not thinking of any one else.

Ron and Hermione had woken the older DA students, knowing better than to consider calling the younger students into a situation of all out warfare. Ron and Hermione made a beeline for Harry, who called the DA students to him. Tatsu came to him as well, while Neko and the other staff members went to organise the free villagers.

"Tatsu, get Neko back here," Harry murmured, "I'm going to need you to work on keeping the Death Eaters from killing anyone _else_."

Tatsu nodded, and he and Neko slipped away from the main group, finding themselves somewhere to sit tight and work their own unique branch of magic. Harry was glad that Tatsu and led the group in from behind – the Death Eaters did not know of the reinforcements that had arrived.

With the DA around him, Harry organised his own plan of offence. He left the staff of Hogwarts to organise themselves, knowing that they would do the work perfectly well, and concentrated on making sure his friends knew what they would need to do. "You'll probably see quite a few people dead out there," Harry said, "I saw one woman killed in front of me … please; try not to lose your heads over it. I know it seems an insensitive thing to say, but you need to concentrate on keeping the living safe."

Everyone nodded, though they were now looking a little nervous. "It's not your fault that those people died. That's a lesson I learnt the hard way," Harry added. "Let's go, and remember – you have a plan, follow it!"

Harry led his group along through the houses, throwing curses at the Death Eaters and ducking out of the way as those below tried to return fire. Harry smiled as he saw one of the Death Eaters try to kill a girl, an obvious threat to the families above, but the green light did nothing but give the child a dazed look for a moment.

"What's going on?" one of the fifth year students asked.

"You'll find out later," Harry said, "We don't have time for explanations now. Come on!"

Not much later the Death Eaters disaparated in disgust, since their spells weren't working, and they weren't used to things not going their way. Harry kept the students back as they went to go down to the battleground. "Come on, we aren't of use here any more. We should get back to the school."

"But shouldn't we help down there?" Ginny asked him, looking down at the place where the Death Eaters had been, and where now all of the adults were congregating.

"No," Harry said firmly, "You all have classes tomorrow, and you've done a lot to help out. There are dead people down there, and I can tell you now, you do not want to see it. It's a terrible sight, and one that you don't need to see. The adults can deal with it – they have before, and they know what they are doing. I'll go and tell them that we're heading back up to the school."

Everyone nodded quietly, probably privately glad that they wouldn't have to help with the clean up. Harry found Tatsu and Neko, staggering with weariness, obviously having had a pretty hard time of it, Modifying the spells to make them harmless. "You two wait here," Harry told them, "I'm taking DA back to the school, just going to tell someone down there that we are going."

Tatsu and Neko just nodded, not even considering arguing with him. Harry told Headmistress McGonagall, and then returned, with Neko and Tatsu leaning on him for support. When they reached the group of students, others came to help support the two teachers, and the group moved off toward the castle, grim older students at the edge of the group, wands out, ready to curse the first thing that moved.

They made it back to the school without incident, and Ron, Harry and Hermione took Tatsu and Neko to their beds and tucking them in tightly. The pair fell asleep almost immediately, and the three students went back to the tower. Tomorrow would be a tiring day after a night of action.

When Harry reached his bed, he found Grypis, in cat form, lying there, apparently completely worn out, though still awake. "_Are you alright_?" Harry asked.

"_I feel as if I will never fly again_," Grypis replied. "_My wings are that worn out that I cannot stand remaining in a form where I even have them. But apart from that, I am alright._"

"_Sleep my friend, you did a brilliant job tonight, you deserve all the rest that you can get_," Harry told the griffin, who nodded sleepily and curled up on Harry's chest. The pair of them drifted off together, though the adrenaline pumping through Harry's veins made it difficult to calm down enough for sleep.

Tomorrow would bring its own challenges.

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And that is yet another chapter gone. The first battle of the story – was it ok? Let me know what you think - battles aren't my strong point. Looking forward to getting your reviews … Hopefully I'll be updating this story a fair bit more in the near future, as well as the reworked version of Deceptions …

Thanks to:

Katepotter13, Dumbeldave, hpfanchrissy1502, elvishchic13, hummer, Numba1, Lisienna, gina87, CantFindAGoodName, Lina Thanatos, JeanieBeanie33, FreedomStar, QueenWeasel, Kordolin, moonypadfoot, katesari, TuxedoMac, uNoeWho.


	10. The Morning After

_**OMG! I have a new story that you all have to go and read. It's called Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt, and it's co-written with a friend of mine. I would really like to hear your views on it - you can find the story on my favourite stories list, and the author (Three Craaaaaaaazy Aussies) is on my fav. authors. Please go and read it and let us know what you think.**_

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_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Ten: The Morning After

Harry awoke the next morning at his usual before sunrise time. Rather than get up and do his various exercises this morning, Harry remained abed; stroking Grypis's soft, sleeping form. Grypis did not awaken, still worn out from his effort the night before, but he shifted slightly, so that Harry could pet him easier.

After awhile of this tranquil pastime, Harry's back began to ache, and he arose, slipping from the bed carefully, trying not to awaken Grypis. Grypis gave a soft mew at the loss of the extra body warmth, but did not wake, and instead shifted to a slight more comfortable position.

Harry quickly dressed and headed downstairs to the Great Hall. There he found almost the entire staff up and sitting at the Head Table. The aroma of coffee was strong on the air, as the teachers tried to get a caffeine hit to make up for the late night. At one end of the table, Tatsu and Neko were sharing a pot of green tea, and waved Harry over to join them.

No one made any comment when Harry pulled up a chair and settled beside his guardian, pouring himself a cup of green tea and drinking it silently. No sound bar those of breathing and drinking was made for some time, and Harry was unwilling to be the one who broke the silence.

Eventually McGonagall spoke, "I should ask you, Mr. Potter, how you came to be in Hogsmeade in its hour of need … but I am not going to."

Harry just smiled, "All's well then," he murmured, his voice slightly hoarse, from shouting spells the night before, and in the general effects of one who has not spoken for a time. "I don't know exactly what I might have told you … will the villagers require help to clean up the town?"

"The older students will be going down in the afternoon," McGonagall replied, "Once the dead have been found and decently buried. I trust you will be part of that force?"

"Of course," Harry replied. "There is much to be done down there."

The teachers all nodded in agreement. "Classes have been cancelled. Most of the school will be kept in the Great Hall, under the supervision of a few teachers, and the rest of the staff and students will be down in the village, doing everything we can to help," McGonagall said.

Michael sighed, "I hate this," he remarked, "I hate having all this death and destruction going on, especially in a place such as Hogwarts, where children, eleven years and older, can be exposed to it … Why can this not stop?"

Harry looked down, now more than ever feeling the weight of the prophecy on his shoulders. One day he would have to fight Voldemort – but he wasn't ready yet, and because he was not ready, people were dying, like that young girls mother last night …

Tatsu rested a hand on Harry's arm, silently telling Harry that he understood, and that it was not Harry who was to blame for what had gone. "Blame Voldemort," he murmured, almost too softly for Harry to hear, "But do not blame yourself."

Harry nodded slightly, hearing the message. Suddenly the doors opened and the rest of the school, those students not in Gryffindor, started coming in. They all seemed rather surprised by the fact that all of the teachers were awake, and that Harry was sitting with them. It was also very obvious that apart from Harry, no Gryffindor student was yet up.

Whispers passed through the three present houses as everyone started asking why that was. Headmistress McGonagall got to her feet, and everyone fell silent, turning to her. "Students, I have some very grave news for you … last night, Hogsmeade was attacked by a group of Death Eaters – You-Know-Who was not present, but the attack was bad enough.

"Ten residents of Hogsmeade village were killed, and many more were injured. For the rest of the week, classes have been cancelled, and all of the older students will be accompanying most of the staff to Hogsmeade in the afternoon to help with the clean up of the village."

The muttering intensified. "Thanks to the actions of Mr. Potter and a group of students from Gryffindor, along with the staff, the attack was able to be halted without any more death … and so, we salute him!"

Everyone cheered; through from many of the Slytherins, this was obviously half-hearted at the very best. Draco Malfoy at the very back of the crowd, made eye contact with Harry, and jerked his head toward the door – he had something to tell Harry.

Harry murmured an excuse to Tatsu, yawned widely, and headed for the door, going up the staircase to the next floor, and staying there, standing in the shadow of a statue while he awaited Malfoy. Finally the Slytherin boy came outside, and Harry stepped away from the wall. Malfoy came upstairs, and they turned into a secret passage so that if any Gryffindors came downstairs, they would not find Harry speaking with his arch enemy civilly.

"Did you know about the attack?" Harry asked.

"No," Malfoy replied, shaking his head, "That's what I wanted you to know. The Dark Lord rarely summons me to meetings because he knows that I do not know the Unforgivables. He only summons me when he wants information about what it is going on at Hogwarts, never on attack nights."

"You found out about the attack on the train," Harry pointed out.

"Only because they needed my information about how the train was set out, and where I thought you would be," Malfoy replied. "Don't worry, I didn't get in trouble when the attack failed – you made your response seem natural enough, which I suppose I should thank you for, really."

Harry inclined his head slightly, "Well, tell me anything you do learn at the Death Eater meetings … as a matter of interest, the Dark Lord probably wants you to learn the Unforgivables, does he not? He will force you to learn them eventually."

"My father is to teach me over the Christmas break," Malfoy said bitterly. "I will be ordered to participate in the murder of innocents after then. I believe, however, that I will not be requested to come on most raids, because of having to attend classes and not arouse suspicion."

"Well, I suppose that's a good thing. If you need help with anything, I hope you'll come to me" Harry replied, "If not, Tatsu and Neko both know of your role, and they might be able to help you with things. You might like to ask."

Malfoy nodded, and then left. Harry followed the passage to its other end and then headed for the Room of Requirement – he had exercises to do, if they would be going down to the village in the afternoon.

Clean up was hard work, Harry decided, as he trudged up toward Hogwarts that night, with his friends in tow. They had spent the entire afternoon helping the residents clear up Hogsmeade village, clearing away the rubble and using magic to help rebuild. Harry learnt more building charms that night than he had thought possible.

"It's good that we're all such fast learners when it comes to spells really," Hermione remarked as they walked. "Otherwise we'd have had to spend most of the day learning the charms we needed to use." They had learnt everything on site, so the villagers had taught them all what they knew.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. Ron just massaged his wand arm, with a pained expression on his face.

That night they all slept deeply, and Harry dreamt of Sirius, and told him of what had been going on the last few days. Back before Harry had come to Hogwarts this year, Sirius had come to him in one of his dreams and found out that Harry had been made Head Boy. They had had a party that night in celebration, and Sirius had told Harry that his parents would be proud. This night he taught Harry some more building charms, since they would be needed the next day when the students went to continue helping to rebuild Hogsmeade.

It took them the rest of that week to rebuild the town, though several houses were taken down rather than repaired because their residents had died in the attack. The students only helped to rebuild the residential area of the town, leaving the shops and such to the people who lived there. Once the place was habitable again, the students returned to their much needed lessons.

The rest of October passed very quickly, and the first Quidditch match of the year was coming up fast. Gryffindor versus Slytherin – the first game against Slytherin that Harry wouldn't play. He felt sad, but he knew that the Gryffindor team stood a good chance without him, especially since Ginny would have the Firebolt to speed her. She was a good flyer.

The morning of the match dawned bright and clear and Harry dressed as a spectator, rather than a player. That morning most of the school remembered Harry's back and many of them came to give him condolences on not being able to fly. Several people said that in the past they had looked forward to Quidditch matches simply because they got to see him in the air.

Harry didn't find any comfort in this at all, and he and Hermione soon left the Great Hall to journey to the Quidditch Pitch. There, they made their way up to the top of the stands, accompanied by Tatsu and Neko. Down on the pitch, Madam Hooch was preparing for the game. When she released the balls, Harry forced himself to pay attention to the Gryffindor changing room doors, rather than track the Snitch across the pitch.

Soon enough, the door swung open and the Gryffindor team came out onto the pitch, Ron walking proudly in the lead. Harry wished, as he often had, that he had been Quidditch Captain instead of Head Boy. Organising Prefect meetings wasn't all that fun, though the Heads had their own bathrooms, which were pretty nice, and they were allowed out of the common room at any time they chose. They could also give out detentions and take away House points.

Still, he would have preferred to have been Quidditch Captain and take Ron's place, leading the Gryffindor team out across the pitch to stand before their green-garbed opponents. Ron and Malfoy shook hands and the two teams took off. Ginny was in _his_ position, on _his _broom, but she was flying well. Harry knew that as long as Gryffindor won, the game would have been a success … but he still wished he was up there.

The Slytherin's tried to cheat as much as they ever did, but the Gryffindor team kept their good spirits and refused to allow the Slytherin's to get to them.

Ron did a brilliant job of defending the goals and the Chasers worked as a great team, getting plenty of goals passed the Slytherin Keeper. Harry, watching the game, realised that the Slytherin's relied to much on cheating, as opposed to amazing skill, although the team was a good one, to deal well when the other team didn't get frustrated.

When both Ginny and Malfoy spotted the Snitch and went hurtling after it, the Firebolt's extra speed enabled Ginny to beat Malfoy to the Snitch with ease, and Gryffindor won the game. Even if Malfoy _had_ caught the Snitch, his team was so far behind that it wouldn't have won them the game in any case.

Despite his feelings about not being able to play himself, Harry cheered as loudly as anyone else in the Gryffindor stands.

When everyone headed down to congratulate the team in person, Harry slipped away and headed for the Forbidden Forest. He was not sure why he went that way, but he felt drawn there. Grypis, on his shoulder, did not protest, so Harry figured it was alright.

He entered the forest calmly, and felt no fear as his instincts guided him deeper into the forest. When he did stop, he knew that he was not a tremendous distance into the forest, but certainly enough that no one would hear him if he screamed for help, and even if they did, no one would get to him in time to stop anything from happening.

He heard something moving off to one side of him, and turned in a circle, eyeing the surrounding forest carefully, ready for anything and not in the least afraid of what might come. He was just slightly nervous that he would undo all the work he'd done on his back if he strained it too much.

"_Grypis?_" Harry asked, wondering if the griffin knew what was going on.

"_There is no danger_," Grypis replied immediately, sounding calm.

As Harry stood in the clearing, still and listening, safe within his centre, there was another sound from the bushes and then a huge, completely white wolf came into the clearing to stand before Harry, gazing up at the human with mature, gentle, and very proud silver eyes.

"_Your friend has grown up_," Grypis remarked, as Harry knelt on the ground so that his eyes were on a level with those of the wolf-creature. "_It is much more powerful than when you last saw it._"

"Do you remember me?" he asked the creature allowed, not completely sure why he was talking to it, but feeling that he should.

"_I gave you a gift_," the creature told him, it's voice echoing through Harry's mind, like, and unlike, Grypis's voice. "_Of course I remember you_."

"You can speak to me now," Harry said softly, with a feeling of awe that he did not completely understand. This creature was _powerful_.

"_It is something I have learned_," the creature agreed. "_Have you enjoyed the gift I granted you_?"

"I have," Harry replied, "But … being fearless is all very well, don't get me wrong, but it makes me take dangerous risks. Could you possibly take the gift back, and let me fear again?"

The creature looked up at him, some unreadable emotion hovering in its silvery eyes, then game forward and pressed its snout against Harry's forehead. Suddenly Harry felt fear rushing back to him, a feeling he hadn't had for many months now … and one that, surprisingly, he almost missed.

" _You are one of only a few who have ever received a gift from my kind, and the only one who as ever requested it be taken back… you are wise for one of you kind_. _When you are in need of a gift, and decide on one that you feel you _will_ need, call me, and I shall grant it to you,_" the creature told Harry softly, stepping back.

"Can you bring someone back from the dead for me?" Harry asked, thinking longingly of Sirius.

"_Such a gift would not be for you, so no, I cannot_," was the gentle reply. "_Until we meet again … and rest assured – we will_," with that, the wolf-creature was gone, bounding off into the forest, which was beginning to go dark, heralding the fall of night.

Harry shivered with nerves, and started back for the castle, "Let's get home before anything nasty comes out to play," he remarked to Grypis. "I'd forgotten how it felt to be frightened," he added thoughtfully, "I think I'm glad I remember."

They continued walking for a short time, as dusk continued to settle, and, as Harry dodged under a branch and cursed when the pain in his back flamed into life, he realised something. "I could have asked for it to mend my back completely," he remarked to Grypis, "Why didn't I think of that at the time? I feel really stupid now."

"_Perhaps it is best if you don't ask for your gift right now anyway,"_ Grypis remarked, "_You never know what you will need tomorrow, and even more so what you will need in several months time. You know that in another five or six months your back will be able to function as it always has._"

Harry nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, I suppose you're right," he agreed, "perhaps it is a good thing I forgot."

Harry emerged from the forest and made his way up to the castle, Grypis purring contentedly on his shoulder. It was nice to be back to normal ... or as normal as he ever got.

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You've been rather lucky when it comes to updates recently, and look at this, I've updated three stories in one day! Deceptions, this and Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt. I don't have time to put up the thanks, but I'll do that next chapter ...Please read the new story!

Thanks everyone!

WolfMoon


	11. Farewell

_Author note: Woohoo! School is over for the year! Until February 2nd, I'm free! It's a good feeling, I must admit. In celebration, here's a new chapter, and there is one in Deceptions as well. Enjoy!_

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Eleven: Farewell

December came, and with it came snow. There was a festive air in Hogwarts as everyone started looking forward to the Christmas holidays. In the halls, suits of armour sang Christmas carols, holly hung in the air and icicles formed on the banisters.

Harry and his friends would be returning to Grimmauld Place, along with Tatsu and Neko for the first week, before Harry and his 'family' moved back to Privet Drive for a week of peace and quiet before school started again for all of them. Harry was looking forward to what would have been one of his few Christmas holidays not spent in Hogwarts castle.

The lessons were getting harder, and no one was looking forward to the week before the holidays were due to begin, because almost the entire school had tests then, or at least assignments.

Hermione was still not telling Ron to do his homework, but the youngest Weasley brother still hadn't completely caught on. He still usually left things to the last minute, or forgot about them altogether, and spent more time practicing Quidditch than anything else.

Hermione seemed to have despaired of Ron making anything of his school career, and was refusing to speak to him about homework, to see how long it took him to look after himself when it came to schoolwork. Harry wasn't sure telling Hermione to leave off was such a good idea after all … but oh well.

Harry was still keeping up with his class work, as well as joining Tatsu and Neko in their quarters for private lessons in martial arts and the Katana. Harry had decided not to join in Tatsu and Neko's afternoon classes altogether until his back recovered, because it would be too easy to have an accident. His manoeuvrability was increasing, and some of his old skill gradually returning, which he was happy about.

He was really looking forward to Christmas, because Lily had written that she would coming over in the last week of the holidays to Privet Drive and would therefore be able to spend time with him for a little while. He had not had all that much time miss Lily, who he had come to count on just as much as Hermione as a friend, but whenever he thought of her, he missed her presence.

Gabrielle had been in contact with him also, but not so often. She had her own life to lead, and had never been as close as Lily had to Harry and his friends. Harry greatly looked forward to meeting her again.

The tests in the last week passed easily enough for Harry and Hermione, though Ron, who had ignored their approach until the very last minute, spent most of the day before the tests frantically trying to study, and after the tests spent almost three hours complaining about how hard they had been.

Finally, Hermione exploaded at him, "Ron, if you'd actually _bothered_ to study for those tests you would have gotten brilliant scores! They weren't hard if you studied and payed attention in class, like Harry and I did!"

"Harry, didn't you find the tests hard?" Ron asked, turning to Harry, who hadn't actually said how he'd felt about the tests.

"No, not really," Harry admitted, hating that he had to be involved in yet another argument between his friends. "I've been doing more studying than I used to, since I can't play Quidditch any more."

Ron fell silent for a moment, then looked at Hermione, "Well, you could have reminded me!" he said irritably.

"Remind you!" Hermione almost _shrieked_, "Am I your nurse maid? You hated it when I made you do your homework before, so I left off, like you wanted me too. You can take care of your own schooling from now on, Ronald Weasley! It's your own fault if you can't take innitiative and study properly!"

Ron stared at her with a somewhat bewildered expression on his face. "But, I'm Quidditch captain, I have a responsibility to my team – I have to do the best I can to make sure that we win the cup!"

Hermione scowled, "Harry's the _Head Boy_, Ron, and he's still managed to keep on top of his duties, which include patrolling halls, organising and attending fortnightly, if not weekly, Prefect meetings, he keeps in touch with the students of the school and the teachers, _and_ runs DA still! He still manages to find time to study, as have all Quidditch captains before school. Wood didn't fail the NEWTs, any more than Angelina did, because they were careful to divide their time!"

Ron mouthed silently at Hermione for a moment, then got up and stalked away in a huff.

Harry sighed, "Maybe he'll get that he has to take care of it himself now," he remarked.

"Hopefully," Hermione said, "I hate to see him failing like this … but you're right, he's way too dependant on me to keep him organised. It's not healthy."

Harry nodded, "Well, I'm going upstairs to finish off packing. We do have to go home tomorrow, and I'll need to make sure everythings ready to go, since something will undoubtedly come up in the morning."

"I'd better do the same, I guess," Hermione agreed, and they parted ways. When Harry looked down from the tower window, he saw a single red-garbed figure flying around on the Quidditch pitch far below. It seemed that Ron had found solace in flying for the moment. Harry hoped that his friend would get over his huff soon, and organise himself better.

Finishing off packing, Harry went to bed early, hoping to meet up with Sirius in his dreams.

"_Sirius?"__Harry enquired as he looked around a fantastical landscape of towering forests and crystaline colours. _

"_Harry, there you are," Sirius was there suddenly, smiling at Harry, but there was a note of sadness in his voice as he watched Harry approach him. "I've been waiting for you."_

_Harry looked up into Sirius's face, reading the emotions there in some confusion, "Sirius … something's wrong, isn't it?" he asked._

_Suddenly a bench appeared, and Sirius sat, gesturing Harry to sit with him. Harry sat – something bad was about to happen and he knew it. "Harry … you remember I told you last year, in your time, that the time I would be allowed to visit you was limited?" Sirius asked._

_Harry's heart stopped beating and his breath froze in his throat, "It's time?" he asked, his voice squeaking painfully._

"_It is," Sirius replied painfully. "I'm sorry, Harry, that I have to leave you, but we were granted more time than either of us could have ever hoped for after I died. It was nice, getting to know you as I never could in my life, but time was limited, and I'm hoping that you enjoyed our time just as much as I did."_

_Harry sighed, "I have enjoyed it more than you could ever imagine," he replied, "But now I'm going to have to lose you all over again."_

_Sirius rested a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I know it's going to be hard Harry. But think of it this way – at least this time it's not going to be so _sudden_, like it was when I died. We both knew this was coming, we've known it for some time now. We have a chance to properly say goodbye. You have Tatsu now - and Neko as well. You've grown up, Harry, and I know you're going to be alright without me."_

"_I know I am too, but that won't stop me from missing you," Harry told his godfather. "And it had to be now, didn't it? It's the start of the Christmas holidays, and this could be the last time I see you! It's not fair."_

"_Life is not fair, Harry, and Death even less so. You know that as well as I do – you've been there. We will meet up again in the Realms of the Dead, one day, and though I'll miss you, I'll hope that day will not come too soon."_

_Harry nodded slightly, "We _will_ meet again," he agreed, "And I think I must say I feel the same. Our ways part here, probably for the better part of a century … and in that century, I'm sure I'll find plenty of other people to love, but I doubt any of them will stop me missing you."_

_Sirius hugged his godson gently, "That's a very nice thing to say," he told Harry softly, "And I really hope that the people you find will make good replacements for me in your life. I've only ever wanted the best for you, and though it took my death to achieve it, I don't regret it, not any more."_

_Harry smiled. "You know, you're leaving me only a week before the anniversary of Dumbledore leaving me," he remarked._

_Sirius ruffled his hair. "What do you want to do tonight?" he asked, "This is no time to be dwelling on the past, Harry! We have tonight to celebrate to our hearts content, and then hopefully longer than a century of waiting until we meet again._

When Harry woke the next morning, his cheeks were wet with tears, and he left the Gryffindor dormitory with Grypis almost as soon as he woke up. He needed to escape from humanity for awhile, needed to be alone to come to terms with losing Sirius once again.

He and Grypis took off from the rooftops and spiralled over the Forbidden Forest for over an hour before landing and headed back into the castle. Grypis had spent much of their flight consoling Harry, and by the time they landed, Harry was feeling a _whole_ lot better about the affair.

At breakfast, several first years came to him to ask him about helping them solve a problem they were having with their friends. Harry was one of the people who the younger students were supposed to come to if they needed help, and many of them felt more comfortable about asking Harry questions than they did the teachers.

Harry helped those two out, and went to McGonagall's office with Hermione to meet up with the Headmistress. Her nephew, Michael, was there when they arrived, but seemed to be just leaving. He nodded to Harry and Hermione on his way out of the office, "Both of you did _very_ well at your Transfiguration exam," he told them, but was gone before they could ask _how_ well they'd done.

"Well, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, I must say I've been very impressed with your work over this first term of the year," McGonagall said, once Harry and Hermione had taken seats in front of her. "Now, one of the things that you will need to start devoting time to is organising the seventh year farewell party."

Harry blinked, "What?" he asked.

"When the seventh year students leave the school, they are presented with their scores for the NEWT exams, as well as other awards that they might have earned through the year," McGonagall explained, "At this time, the students usually have an event of some kind. It's often a ball and a feast for the seventh year students alone. Exactly what goes on is left up to the Head Students and those Prefects that they chose to help them."

"What do we need to do?" Hermione enquired eagerly.

"That will be up to you," McGonagall said, "Talk to the Prefects, and the other students, decide what they all want and see how they feel about everything. Should you require anything, the teachers will give you help, should you ask them for it."

Harry and Hermione nodded, Harry resignedly, Hermione eagerly, before they were dismissed. Harry sighed slightly as they headed back for the Gryffindor tower. His life was just getting more and more hectic, or so it seemed to him.

Harry went straight up to the boys' dormitory and changed into Muggle clothes, thinking that he probably wouldn't have all that much time to change on the train, because undoubtedly he would be spending a lot of his time talking to students from DA, the Prefects, and saying goodbye to his friends.

Using his Portkey ring, Harry travelled with his things downstairs to Tatsu and Neko's office. He hadn't told anyone what his ring actually did, though several students had commented that it was a very nice ring and had asked where he'd gotten it. Clearly they all wanted one of their own – Harry had been forced to tell them that it had been a special commision and he wasn't sure exactly where it had come from. He had a feeling, however, that when he returned to school after Christmas he would find that several students had found similar rings to show off.

"Hey there Harry," Tatsu smiled at him when the man noticed Harry in the room.

"Hey Tatsu," Harry grinned back, "Do you want to take my stuff with you to Grimmauld Place?" he asked, "It'll be easier than coming to pick me up and take it with you then, won't it?"

"Yes, probably," Tatsu agreed, "We can do that for you. It's a pity that you need to be on the train, but there's a Prefect meeting, and I'm sure your friends will be looking for you."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Yup, that's about right," he muttered, "Are you going to come and pick me up from the station, or am I going to use the ring to get home?"

"You'll be coming back with Molly and Arthur," Tatsu informed him, "It's easier to just send you all home in the one ride, really."

Harry nodded. "Right then," he replied, "Well, I'd better go and catch the train before it leaves, I'll see you tonight."

He hugged Tatsu and Neko breifly before heading downstairs and joining Ron and Hermione waiting in the entrance hall for the Thestral-driven carriages to arrive and bear them away. Ron and Hermione were still acting huffy around one another, although they were still talking, which was a happy thing, as far as Harry was concerned.

"Where's your trunk?" Hermione enquired, a little surprised.

"Tatsu and Neko are taking it back with them," Harry replied, "That way we'll have more room in the care when we get a lift back to Grimmauld Place."

"Oh, so you're making sure that _he's_ organised," Ron muttered rebelliously.

Hermione rolled her eyes and didn't respond. Harry sighed slightly – why did it always have to be this way? It got so annoying sometimes. "There are the carriages," he said, pointing out the doors. To his relief, Ron and Hermione forgot that they were angry with one another and grabbed their trunks, heading for the doors along with the general throng of students.

Neville and Ginny joined them as they all crowded into a carriage. "We'll be picked up by your parents," Harry told Ginny, who nodded, "I know, I just got an owl from mum, like, ten minutes ago," she assured him.

Harry nodded, and they passed the rest of the journey to the station in a fairly companionable silence. The train was waiting for them when they arrived, and Harry and Hermione parted ways with Ron and headed for the Prefect compartments, while Ron headed off to find the Quidditch team and encourage them to train over the two week break, since the second match would be taking place in February.

Harry and Hermione explained what was going on at the end of the year with the seventh year prefects, and requested that they all try to brainstorm ideas over the holidays as to what they might be able to do for it, before they broke up the meeting and went to give their friends holiday greetings.

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_Sorry this chapter took awhile to get out … and sorry there are no thanks, but I'm exhausted. I'm sure I'll recover soon enough now that I'm free of school, although do have work two days a week … anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please leave a review so I know what you think._


	12. Christmas

JK HAS FINISHED BOOK SIX! RELEASE DATE SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED! I am celebrating this news by updating both of my stories. Please read, review and enjoy! Also, please go and read the new chapters in Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt! We haven't had much feedback yet, and we'd like to get some more.

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Twelve: Christmas

When the train pulled up in the late afternoon at Kings Cross station, Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried out onto the station, and almost immediately saw Molly and Arthur waving from near the exit, accompanied by a fairly tall young woman with long black hair and pale blue eyes, who was also waving energetically and smiling widely at the group.

"There they are!" Ron said, as if Harry and Hermione couldn't see them, and hurried ahead to meet up with his parents. Ginny waded out of the throng and went to greet her parents also, while Harry headed straight for Lily and hugged her in greeting.

"Hi!" He said enthusiastically, "How have you been?"

"Alright," Lily sighed, "I've been searching for others like me, trying to convince them not to turn to You-Know-Who."

Lily was a Wild Child - they were similar to werewolves, but at the same time very different. A Wild Child was a shape-shifter, and they had to spend at least half of every day in a form not their own. Unlike werewolves, they did not have to always be the _same_ animal, however.

Wild Children were just as ridiculed as werewolves, because they were regarded as less than human - they spent half of their lives in another form, also if a Wild Child convinced someone to fall in love with them, or someone fell in love with them of their own accord, their curse would be transferred to that person, and the Wild Child would become normal again, if they were in their own territory – if they were on foreign ground, the Wild Child would remain as they were and the other would join them. Also, they possessed a very destructive magic, which made them formidable enemies, it also made them very much feared by the general public.

Harry had, at one stage, been attracted to Lily, but they had made a Love-Me-Not potion because neither Harry nor Lily wanted Harry to become a Wild Child. The Wild Children drank blood, as werewolves and vampires, although that blood does not need to be human. It left them in very low regard, but Harry did not care. He would make friends with whomever was prepared to be friends with him - he did not care whether they were Wild Children or Werewolves, and although he had never met a vampire, he thought he might be able to be friends with them as well.

"Any luck?" Harry enquired.

"Little," she replied, "Most are so dissatisfied with life that they are willing to kill for his sake, and rebel against those who have, as they see it, destroyed their lives. Like werewolves and giants, the Wild Children grow weary of the constant hatred directed at them ... I am younger than most of my kind - I do not feel as strongly as they do."

Harry nodded slightly. "I hate that anyone has to go through something like that, least of all you," he remarked softly, taking her hand and leading her from the station along with the Weasley's and Hermione. "If I ever could, I would join the Ministry and try to become Minister to attempt to secure better rights for those of our community who have been wrongly judged."

Lily smiled and hugged him slightly around the middle, "I know you would," she told him, "But really, we get by alright."

"Get by alright?" Harry repeated. "Lily, some of your kind are thinking of joining Voldemort for no more reason than that you feel that you are being wrongly treated by the light side. _Something_ has to be drastically wrong for that to be happening. I swear I'll do _something_ to help you … as soon as ever I can."

"Hurry up you two!" Ron called out, and they discontinued their conversation, heading over to join the others at the car. They were all bundled inside, and set off for Grimmauld Place. It did not take them long to arrive at all.

Harry was faintly surprised to see that Lily could see the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, but she noted his confusion and told him that she had been told the address of the place so that she could keep in contact with them about her efforts in talking to others like her.

They walked up the front steps and pushed open the front door and headed inside. "This place has gotten so much better since the first time we were here, hasn't it?" Hermione remarked, looking around thoughtfully.

For awhile, they entertained Lily with tales of the things that they'd found in the house when they'd been cleaning up back at the start of fifth year. Harry didn't say much – the fact that Sirius was _gone_, really gone, was weighing heavily on him at present.

Lily shuddered when they told her about some of things they'd found – particularly the many-legged tweezers that had turned all spider like and tried to pierce Harry's skin on his first day of cleaning. Harry abandoned his friends as quickly as possible, on the pretence of going to get some food from the kitchen.

"Dobby, Winky, hello again," Harry smiled at the two house elves, who he ran into almost the moment he entered the kitchen. This place had certainly changed a lot since he had first seen it, Harry thought. The place was much cleaner than it had been, and though the walls were still rough-cleaven, they were now covered with bright tapestries which made the place less foreboding.

"Master is being here again!" Dobby squeaked excitedly. He bowed deeply while Winky curtseyed politely. "We is making dinner … but if the Master requires our help, we is always being happy to do as he wishes!"

Harry smiled, "If I could just grab a few snacks, my friends and I are little peckish – we don't want too much though," he added quickly, before Dobby and Winky could rush off and load him with more food than he was able to carry. "It's nearly dinner time; we just need a little something to tide us over."

"Miss Lily will be wanting quite a bit of food, Master Harry, that one eats a lot," Dobby said wisely. "And Master Harry should not be missing any meals either."

When Dobby and Harry had first met, Harry had been very thin, because his relatives had never gone to the trouble of feeding him too much. Now Harry had changed a lot, but the house elf didn't seem to have noticed. "No, we'll be fine with a small tray of food," Harry said.

Dobby left the stove to Winky and hurried over to the pantry, returning moments later with a tray of food that was much larger than Harry had wanted. He resolved that next time he asked for a snack, he'd specify exactly what they wanted.

When Harry tried to take the tray from Dobby, the house elf skipped nimbly out of the way and gave him an admonishing look, "Master will be letting Dobby do the carrying," he said sternly, "The master's back is not well, and Dobby is being here to look after master."

"Dobby, I've asked you to call me Harry before now," Harry pointed out tiredly, opening the door before Dobby had to contort himself in all sorts of weird shapes to try and open the door without dropping the tray.

"Master Harry is too kind," Dobby replied calmly, neatly sidestepping Harry's request. Harry sighed – House Elves never seemed to listen to him on topics like that, one day he might actually stop trying to discuss it.

They walked into the living room together, and the group gathered around Dobby with cheerful thanks for the food, which Dobby accepted with many bows and mutters of 'it is being nothing, kind masters and mistresses."

The moment the food was set on the table and Dobby had disappeared back to the kitchen, Lily fell on the food. "Haven't you eaten today?" Harry asked in amusement, remembering Dobby's words on how Lily could eat a fair bit of food.

"Yes," Lily replied around a mouthful of food, "But I'm still hungry. I'm usually hungry, something I've learned to live with."

Harry thought that maybe it was something to do with being a Wild Child, but didn't say anything aloud, since Ron and Hermione didn't know of Lily's particular curse. Harry didn't think that they'd care, given their response to Remus Lupin, but still, it was for Lily to talk about if she desired.

"So, how has your year been?" Harry enquired, "You haven't told us all that much in your letters, and it's hard to get a decent picture of what's going on from words anyway."

The small group had a fairly joyous reunion, chatting about all that had gone for them in the past months, all of them happy to be in one another's company again. Mrs. Weasley soon came to call them to the kitchen, where Lily attacked the food on the table voraciously, despite the fact that they'd been snacking for over an hour.

After dinner, the group went upstairs and settled in Harry's room for a couple of hours more to talk for a little while longer, before everyone drifted off to their own rooms, and Harry went to bed, knowing that his dreams would be empty and meaningless without the prospect of Sirius coming and talking to him.

The first week of the holidays passed in the same general manner, and Harry found himself not particularly looking forward to Christmas, because on Christmas afternoon, he would be returning to number six, Privet Drive, and Lily would be going home again.

Despite his wish that the week would last forever, Harry woke up on Christmas morning feeling rather happy. He would be spending the entire day celebrating with his friends, opening presents, eating to his hearts content and all the things that most people did on Christmas day.

A lot of the Order was present when everyone tramped downstairs, and most had grim faces. Harry remembered, rather suddenly, that it was now a year to the day since Fudge and Dumbledore had been removed from most people's lives – the former now rested in death's embrace and the latter … well, Harry wasn't too sure exactly _where_ Dumbledore was, but he was alive and (presumably) well , although most of the Wizarding world thought that he, too, was dead.

"Morning," Harry said sleepily, walking into the kitchen. He was the first of his friends to be awake, and was regretting it somewhat until Winky brought him over a coffee to wake him up, and Dobby appeared moments later with a plate of toast.

Mrs. Weasley was sipping her own coffee, and looking rather happy to still be sitting down. She had, apparently, gotten rather used to having the House Elves around and was happy to let them do the work she had once done herself.

Mr. Weasley was also awake, but looking bleary while he talked quietly with another member of the Order. "Morning," most of the other occupants replied, all at varying stages of wakefulness.

"Merry Christmas dear," Mrs. Weasley said with false cheer. She didn't sound particularly as though she meant it. Unlike Harry, she thought that Dumbledore was dead, as did most of the Order. Harry was fairly sure the only one's in the Order who did know Dumbledore still lived were himself, Tatsu, Neko, Mad-Eye Moody and Minerva McGonagall.

Soon enough the younger generation started making its way downstairs, starting with Fred and George, who were still doing very well with their joke shop, and were wearing clothes to match their success. Ginny followed not long after, along with Lily. Hermione and Ron came down slightly later, Ron looking as though he'd much rather be abed, despite the temptation of presents.

"Mr. Potter," Minerva McGonagall walked stiffly into the room, her back straight and her manner business-like despite the festive occasion, "When over one hundred owls appeared for you this morning at Hogwarts from various fans across the country, I thought perhaps I should bring them to you."

She gave a slight wave of her wand, which brought the box Harry hadn't noticed she'd been holding back to it's proper size, which was almost hip height. The box was completely stuffed with letters, and Harry blinked with shock – he really was becoming more and more popular as time went on. He supposed that without Dumbledore, he really was the Wizarding world's main hope for winning the war against Voldemort (most of them didn't realise that he was their _only_ hope, and always had been).

"Thanks," Harry said, still feeling a little bewildered. Despite the fact that something like this had happened the year before, he felt overwhelmed by the support that he was receiving from the rest of the Wizarding population.

"We'll help you open them all later," Lily assured him, eyeing the box with an expression on her face that mirrored Harry's feelings.

"Thanks," Harry said again, "I think I'll need all the help I can get."

"Merry Christmas," McGonagall said with a slight smile, before she turned to leave, presumably going back to Hogwarts. She declined Winky's offer of a coffee, and swept from the kitchen out into the living room, where there was the sudden sound of flames roaring, then silence. She had gone again.

"Presents now?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Don't you want to eat something?" Hermione asked him in surprise.

"If we open the presents, I can go back to bed for a couple of hours," Ron pointed out sleepily.

"Ickle Ronnickins!" Exclaimed the twins, who delighted in calling Ron by his former nick-name, probably because the youngest Weasley male was head and shoulders above the twins, who had more stocky frames, "How can you be thinking of sleep on Christmas morning! Shame on you!"

"Once everyone's eaten, we'll go and open the presents together," Mrs. Weasley decided before her children could cause any more of a fuss and ruin everyone else's breakfasts.

All of the younger generation ate quickly, then sat around impatiently waiting for the adults to finish. Tonks, who had come here instead of staying at Hogwarts for the holiday, finished almost as quickly as the teenagers did, and joined them in muttering rebelliously about some people eating too slowly.

Finally, however, the adults finished their breakfasts and everyone moved into the living room, where a Christmas tree had been erected the night before in preparation for the event. A small mound of presents was piled around the tree and everyone settled down as Hagrid volunteered to hand out the presents.

Harry looked around the room and smiled contentedly – this was what Christmas was supposed to be like.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, who are: hpfanchrissy1502, Jerlayne Amenades, Surarrin, Kordolin, moonypadfoot, JeanieBeanie33, CantFindAGoodName, TuxedoMac, Cyrano2.0, QueenWeasel, Dumbledave, SlytherinPhoenix, Emma Barrows, blackdragonofslytherin, murdrax, Ezmerelda, lyss33, shadowmonk, Loonytunes, uNoeWho, marauder #3, moodyboy66, CurlsofSerenity, Lady Phoenix Slytherin, BferBear, Neostarr. 


	13. New Recruit

**_Well, a very Merry Christmas to you all! Although it's Boxing Day for me now, I know that it is Christmas, or nearly so, for most people in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and for those of you who are reading it, Harry Potter and the Seeker of the Shadows has been updated also. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas._**

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**_Shines A Light_**

Chapter Thirteen: New Recruit

The last week of the holidays was spent on peaceful Privet Drive, and Harry spent a lot of his time wandering around the neighbourhood, as he had the previous holidays. He no longer worried about Dudley's gang, because the majority of the group had gone away for the holidays, and only two of them remained – those two did not bother Harry after he broke one of their noses with a punch, the one time they tried to corner him.

Soon enough, they went back to Grimmauld Place to meet up with the Weasley's and Hermione for the journey to the train station and back to Hogwarts. They were all a little subdued on the ride, because all of them missed Lily's outgoing nature and cheerful conversation.

Blaise came into the compartment that they claimed after the Prefect meeting, and Ron left. He still didn't trust Blaise, and gave the excuse of needing to find the Quidditch team to tell them what the new practice regime would be like. At a look from Harry, Hermione excused herself to go and patrol the train and make sure no one was doing anything against the rules.

"Where's Draco?" Harry enquired politely.

"Minding my seat in the compartment that seems to have become the Slytherin courtroom," Blaise replied, wrinkling her nose slightly, "They're all even more eager to fawn over him, and therefore me, now that he's got the Mark."

"Is their fawning getting annoying?" Harry asked, knowing _exactly_ how it felt. He'd only been putting up with it for six years now.

"Yes," Blaise muttered darkly. "I don't know how you cope with it!"

"By having my true friends with me, the ones who don't care if I'm famous or not, who'll stick by me no matter what. That is, Ron and Hermione, to start off with, and all of DA, these last couple of years," Harry replied, smiling faintly in remembrance of some of the times he and his friends had been through together.

Blaise made a face, "Fat lot of good that does me," she remarked, "There's no one in Slytherin who wants to be friends for friends sake – except for the younger couple of years, of course, but they aren't all that interested in being friends with someone so much older than they are."

"Then look outside your own house," Harry said, "You always have me, and there are plenty of people in DA who were willing to befriend you."

"True, I guess …" Blaise replied slowly. "Look, the main reason I came was that I wanted to tell that I'm joining Draco and Professor Snape. They've been teaching me for months to get me ready to join the Dark Lord."

Harry's eyebrows rose, "What brought this about?" he asked.

"If me and Draco want to stay together, Draco's father has to be assured that I'll make a nice pureblood wife who'll support her husband in everything," Blaise said, making a face. "I don't know how long Draco and I will last, but I'd like to have the option, if I want it."

Harry nodded slightly, "I can understand that," he remarked, "So, when are you going to receive the Mark?"

"Soon, Snape'll call me when it's time," Blaise replied. "Just thought you might like to know. You're gathering a whole little group of spies now, aren't you?"

Harry smiled back at her, "I sure am," he replied, "Listen Blaise – don't get hurt, will you?"

"I'll try not to," she replied. "I want to do my part in the war too, and I think this is the part that I was meant to play. Snape's been teaching me Occlumency."

Harry nodded, "Good to hear," he said, "Well, I'd better go and find my friends, before Ron gets jealous, and you should probably head back to the Slytherin's before they start wondering where you are."

Blaise nodded, and the pair of them parted ways again, Harry leaving the carriage with a lot more on his mind than when he had entered it at the beginning of the ride. Yet another student would be placing themselves in danger because of him …

He shook his head slightly – Blaise could take care of herself. Snape would have stopped teaching her if she hadn't managed to perform satisfactorily, and certainly wouldn't have allowed to join the Death Eaters until she was ready. She had chosen her path, now he had to let her walk it. It wasn't really any of his business what she did anyway.

Harry sighed – he wished he didn't always feel responsible for people … It got annoying sometimes, especially at times like these. He found Hermione first, and then they found Ron together before all going back to the compartment that they'd claimed.

"Found the team?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yeah. What did you two talk about?" Ron asked, sounding a little bitter. He still really didn't like Blaise at all, which Harry thought was a little sad, because she was a great person.

"Plans on how to make sure the Slytherin's stay unsuspecting," Harry replied evasively.

"Are you ever going to tell us what those plans _are_, exactly?" Ron demanded.

"If you're needed in them, of course I will," Harry stated firmly, "But until then, the fewer people who know about them, the fewer ways any information can leak."

"You aren't being very careful," Hermione remarked, "What if there was someone listening outside right now?"

"I've warded the compartment," Harry said, grinning, "I did when we first arrived, just in case – I thought it might be necessary."

"You knew Blaise was coming to see you?" Hermione asked.

"No, of course not," Harry replied, "But in case one of us slipped up something about the Order, I thought it was best that no one could actually hear what we were saying."

"Oh – makes sense, I suppose," Hermione said thoughtfully, "I wish I'd thought of that before …"

Harry just shrugged, and they went back to talking, Ron having forgotten about his questions concerning Blaise and what she had been talking to Harry about. Harry disliked keeping a secret from his friends, but he wasn't sure how Ron would react when he found out what was going on.

The three of them left the compartment a couple of times to wander up and down the train and make sure no one was doing anything wrong. It was hardly crowded at all, especially compared with the normal train-trips Harry took.

When they reached Hogwarts, long after night had fallen, the group found a carriage and headed up to the school. "Well, the holidays were fun, but it's good to be back," Hermione remarked, looking around the Entrance Hall as they walked inside, shaking the snow from their clothes.

"Hermione, are you insane?" Ron demanded, staring at her, "You're _happy_ to be back here? We're lucky if we don't have ten essays due in every bloody day!"

"_Some_ people can keep track of their work loads," Hermione said irritably, glaring at Ron, "Harry and I are perfectly on top of everything, and we never have ten essays due in on one day, five has been the maximum you know."

Ron stared at her for a moment, then looked at Harry, "I still think she's mental," he remarked, so that only Harry could hear.

Harry gave a slight sigh. All of this was starting to get repetitive really, he thought. Well, hopefully Ron would learn to keep track of things soon, because Harry didn't want his friend to fail seventh year any more than Hermione did.

Up in the Gryffindor tower, Harry and his friends settled in quickly, exchanging Christmas greetings with those who had remained behind for the holidays, as Harry had done so often in the past, and showing off new Christmas presents (Harry's included clothes, books, quills, sweets and much, much more).

They all trooped downstairs for dinner, then came back up for bed, everyone feeling rather worn out, despite the fact that most of the day had been spent sitting down.

Harry's dreams that night revisited an often occurring dream that been haunting him since the previous year. It came on and off, and Harry was sure that it meant something significant, but he wasn't about to go to Professor Trelawney and ask her for help translating it, and apart from the Divination teacher, he wasn't sure who to go to … he could have tried Firenze, he supposed, but he wasn't sure how much of dream-lore the centaur would know.

_He circled warily, his eyes watching a spinning silver blade. It looked familiar, and it felt so … right in his hands. He spun it, fast and faster, over his head, behind his back, jumping into the air to whirl it round his feet._

_Suddenly his rhythm changed, though he made no conscious decision to start something new. Now he was moving as if blocking something, then parrying._

_Somehow, his body knew the patterns he had to make, his mind felt devoid of any thoughts, let alone those that might control his movements._

_His body moved in perfect sync with the sword in his hands, twisting, leaping, a dance of death that he had no control of._

Harry woke the next morning feeling as confused as he always did after having that particular dream – it was very annoying. He had no idea what it meant, and no idea why he kept dreaming it … but there _had_ to be a reason.

Two weeks later, partway into January, Blaise sent Harry a message by owl saying that she had been successfully initiated into the Death Eater ranks, and was currently being swamped by Slytherin's offering their congratulations, so she couldn't get away long enough to tell him anything in person. She added that she and Draco would keep them as up to date on the Death Eater meetings as possible, but added that they were still not going to be summoned to many of them.

Harry was once more plagued with worries for the safety of the two Slytherin students. He didn't worry about Snape, who he knew perfectly well could protect himself, but Malfoy and Blaise … he worried about them.

Classes were getting harder as seventh year progressed, and the homework load increasing dramatically. Ron finally started thinking about doing his homework before it was due in, to the relief of Harry and Hermione, though he didn't make all that much of an effort.

All through this time, Harry was steadily improving in physical shape. He was quite proud of his efforts through the year, and was happy to finally be able to join in Tatsu and Neko's classes without thinking that he'd do himself more damage than good.

Despite the fear that he'd be very rusty compared with the other students, Harry was surprised to find that they were nowhere near a match for him. He guessed that all of the extra training with Tatsu through this year, and the fact that he had been so far ahead last year made up for the months of little activity that he had had to face.

He was just on par with the other students in Neko's classes, because he hadn't gotten very far with the Katana before he had injured himself, but again, the lessons with just Neko through the year had kept him just up to date with the rest of the class.

"How can you be so good at this?" Ron complained one night as they walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower with Hermione. Despite the fact that she had been a little … against Harry's interest in martial arts, Hermione had been going to the classes all year along with Ron, and enjoying them too.

Harry shrugged, "Remember, I had a years more practice than you, and that was with one on one tutoring," he replied, _besides, I have advantages that no other student does – the Centre, for one thing_.

"I guess," Ron muttered, "Can you give us some extra tutoring?"

"I'll see," Harry replied, "Depends on all of our schedules really – Hermione and I have to plan the end of year party with the rest of the Prefects, you have Quidditch to attend to, we all have homework and the NEWTs are only a couple of months away now."

"Three and a half months," Hermione muttered distractedly. Harry had reminded her of the upcoming exams, which was never a good idea. "Um, I'm going to the library for some extra studying," Hermione told them, "I can't remember whether or not Binns said that we had to know things on the pre-Founders goblin wars …"

"You were insane, taking History of Magic," Ron told her, shaking his head.

"History is a fascinating subject Ron," Hermione said huffily and disappeared down a corridor, heading for the library.

"Totally mental," Harry agreed with Ron as they headed up to the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I won't go through and name you all because even though it's Boxing Day, I still have a fair bit to do ... I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review again!

WolfMoon


	14. Rain

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Fourteen: Rain

The rest of January passed, and February came. The snow departed, and was replaced by rain. Sitting in front of the fire doing his homework, Harry was glad, in some ways, that he was not on the Quidditch team. If he had been, he would have been out in the rain two nights a week, practicing for the upcoming game against Hufflepuff.

"You know Harry, I always thought that you were insane, loving Quidditch so much that you'd go out and practice in weather like this. I love the sport, well, watching it anyway, but …" Hermione remarked on one such practice night, not long after Ron had led the team off.

"Looking back, I think I might have been," Harry replied jokingly, opening a book on Potions and starting on Snape's latest essay. He and Hermione settled down to work hard and try to get all of their homework done.

Ron and the team trooped back into the common room, soaking wet and dripping all over the carpets. They all looked more than happy to race upstairs to shower and change. When Ron came downstairs to join Harry and Hermione, Harry pushed away a charms essay with a weary sigh, and pulled up a book on Transfiguration.

"How many essays have you _done_?" Ron demanded, looking at the papers strewn over the desk that Harry was working on. "Two now," Harry replied, "Potions and Charms. I already had half of the Charms one done though."

Ron shook his head, "I swear you're turning into a second Hermione," he remarked.

"You say that like it's a _bad_ thing," Hermione said, sounding a little hurt.

"It's not," Ron hastened to reassure her, "But … oh never mind."

He pulled Harry's abandoned Charms book over to himself and started on Flitwick's essay. Hermione smiled happily, though Ron didn't see it. She was very pleased that her friend was finally starting to take his school work seriously.

"I still don't know how you two keep up with all your work and still get E's and O's," Ron muttered, starting his Charms essay with a grimace. Harry knew that his friend must be worn out from Quidditch practice, and remembered from years previous just how hard it was to concentrate after being worn out from Quidditch training.

"If you just _tried_ a little harder you wouldn't be getting A's for everything Ron," Hermione replied coolly, and Ron sighed.

"I am trying," he told her.

"Then try harder," Hermione was very unsympathetic.

"Hermione, could you read of my essays?" Harry asked, "Just to check for spelling mistakes and that?"

"Sure, would read over mine and make sure it makes sense?" Hermione asked.

"Since when do _you_ ask for help?" Ron demanded in amazement.

"When you write something yourself, sometimes you leave words out by mistake or something," Hermione said loftily, "Or don't completely finish an idea, but you don't realise that you're doing it. Harry's been reading over my essays for a couple of months now, in return for me reading over his."

Ron looked between them, "You really are turning into a second Hermione," he remarked.

Harry and Hermione both shook their heads and picked up each other's essays to get started, while Ron began toiling through his Charms essay with a look of pained concentration on his face.

"There," Ron said, half an hour later, putting the final word into his essay for Charms with a relieved look. When he looked up at his friends, he found that Harry had retreated behind a book on Defence magic, his homework sitting in a neat pile beside his chair, and Hermione was similarly involved in a book on Welfare Rights of various groups, with the obvious intention of looking for something to help her with S.P.E.W.

"Here," Harry said, putting down his book and extending a hand. Ron gave him a blank look, "Give me the essay and I'll read over it," Harry said, now a little impatient. "Make sure there's no errors and that sort of thing."

Ron blinked slightly, still apparently surprised that Harry could now be trusted to do this, and then extended his essay with a look of relief. "Will you give it to Hermione when your done, just in case?" he asked quickly.

Harry gave a wry smile, "Just to make sure I don't miss anything?" he asked.

"Erm, well, uh-" Ron started, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

"It's ok, I don't mind," Harry said, "And of course I'll give it to her."

"It's a pity there isn't anything that I can help you with," Ron remarked dejectedly when his paper had been handed over to Hermione, "You two know what you're doing and you don't _need_ any more help, especially from me."

"Just win the Quidditch cup," Harry said calmly, "That'll be good enough."

Ron cheered up at that. "I can do that," he said brightly, and Harry gave slight smile.

"Good," he replied.

The match against Ravenclaw approached, while Harry grew nervous at the lack of any activity from Voldemort. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he was sure that Voldemort intended to do something nasty.

He did his best to show his support for Ron, and the rest of the team, and never voiced his bitter thoughts on how he would have liked to have been a part of it. Of course, seeing all the rain that was coming down outside during practice nights often made him reconsider his wish to be on the Quidditch team, and flying with Grypis eased the feeling of loss at not being able to fly a broomstick any more.

He had already decided that even if his back did improve enough to fly before the last Quidditch match of the year, he wouldn't. He would let Ginny Weasley have the glory of winning the Quidditch Cup as Seeker.

The day before the match, everyone in Gryffindor was in high spirits, and Harry slipped away from the common room to try and get some peace and quiet. In the library, he ran into Blaise, who was doing her homework there, away from the Slytherin crowd for a short time.

"Escaped did you?" Harry asked her with a smile.

"Yeah," she said briefly, shifting some things from a chair so that Harry could sit down. "Listen, I've been looking for you all day, but you've in the Gryffindor common room too much," she didn't look up from her work, and her voice was pitched so low that Harry had difficulty hearing her.

"Really?" he asked, pretending to be interested in a book on Defence Against the Dark Arts that she had out. He'd already read over it several times already, so he wasn't actually reading the words on the page that he flipped too. At Hogwarts he and Blaise had to be careful – a Slytherin who found them together might ask awkward questions that neither of them would want to answer.

"Yeah. Draco and I were summoned last night – You-Know-Who plans to attack Diagon Alley in the next week or so," Blaise replied. Harry kept his book from wavering with some difficulty.

"Does Snape know?" Harry asked hurriedly.

"Yes, he was there with us. When we came back, he went out again very quickly, muttering something about needing to alert someone."

Harry nodded slightly. The Order knew already then … but it was good to know that Blaise was telling him things anyway. "Do you know the means of his attack? Anything about what's going on?" he enquired.

From behind her book, Blaise continued speaking, telling Harry everything that she knew about the pending attack, which wasn't all that much. "I think Professor Snape knows more," she told him apologetically, "He picks up a lot of stuff where most would miss it."

Harry nodded slightly, "Well, thank you for telling me. Snape will have already alerted the necessary authorities, but it's always nice to know what's going on."

Blaise gave a slight nod of her own, and then started backing up her things. Harry waited a few minutes before doing likewise and heading for Tatsu and Neko's rooms – he really felt like talking to them for a little while.

After talking with his guardian, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room to find it almost devoid of occupants, as most people had already headed up to bed, in particular the Quidditch team, who would need their rest.

The only people still awake were those who were finishing off their homework before they went to bed, and they only offered Harry sleepy greetings before returning to their work. Harry headed upstairs and went to bed, feeling rather tired himself.

The next day dawned miraculously clear, and Harry heard the Ron muttering happily under his breath about great playing conditions after all the rain they'd been having lately. He had to agree – it was a miracle that the skies could be so clear, on the one day that really mattered as far as the Quidditch teams were concerned.

Harry followed the rest of the Gryffindor's down to breakfast, where Ron stood over them, making sure they ate, while eating nothing himself, until Harry pushed a piece of toast at him. "Thanks," Ron mumbled around mouthful of food.

"Don't mention it," Harry replied calmly. The Gryffindor team left soon after to change their robes and get ready for the game. Harry and Hermione walked with the general press of students and found their seats in the stands, again accompanied by Tatsu and Neko.

The match against Hufflepuff would most likely be an easy one, and Harry wished, again, that he could play in it. But no, let the other's have a chance to shine. He had his own things to deal with after all. It wasn't like he_ needed_ Quidditch, what with all the other training he was doing at the moment.

Didn't stop him missing it though … the match began, and Gryffindor took the Quaffle straight off, flying for the Hufflepuff's goals and going strong. Harry smiled, proud at how good the team he still thought of as his was looking.

The clouds began to come back overhead when Gryffindor was only twenty points in the lead and the game had been going for almost half an hour. Harry kept an eye on them, looking between the game and clouds every couple of seconds, hoping that the rain would hold off until the match was over. Gryffindor was still performing well, but then again, so was Hufflepuff.

As the clouds swirled over the game and plunged things into semi-shadow, Ginny spotted the Snitch, and raced for it, as did the Hufflepuff Seeker. The dark storm clouds overhead held for a moment, then released their wet and soaking burden down upon the players.

But the rain came too late to help the Hufflepuff team with a distraction, and Ginny's had closed around the Golden Snitch. Harry gave a proud smile and clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd, even as the rain soaked him to the skin within seconds of touching him. It was cold, but his pride gave birth to an internal heat which seared the cold of the rain from his mind.

He, Tatsu and Neko slipped away from the crowd and headed back up to the castle quickly, so as not to get too wet or cold. Grypis met them there, standing the doorway to their office studiously licking one of his paws.

Harry smiled at his companion and lifted the golden-furred cat into his arms. "_You're lucky you aren't in your real form, otherwise I wouldn't be able to lift you_," Harry remarked silently to his friend.

"_It would be worth it if I could life in my other form at all times,_" Grypis returned, a little sad. "_One day, soon I hope, I will be able to fly free in my true form and not worry about what might happen in response to people finding out what I am._"

"_That day will come_," Harry promised, and Grypis nodded.

"_You are wet_," the griffin remarked, jumping down from Harry's arms. "_If you want to hug me again, you can do it when you are clean and dry._"

Harry laughed and said farewell to Tatsu and Neko and headed up to the Gryffindor common rooms for a quick hot shower and changed out of his school robes and into casual clothes. "Well, let's go and congratulate them on a game well played, huh?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Grypis agreed, jumping onto Harry's now dry shoulder happily.

* * *

Well, that'll do for this chapter … I'll try and get the next one out very soon! Sorry it's so short, I've had writers block on this for a couple of months now (I wrote a lot of the story before I went away in September, and have managed about two pages since I returned … now that's what I call writer's block – it was a good thing I managed to get so far ahead!)

Thanks:

**Xyverz** – the sword shall soon be found!

**Shadowmonk** – I think I did pretty good for myself this Christmas, and 2005 promises to be a very good year! I hope it will prove so for you as well.

**TuxedoMac** – I'm glad you like the Blaise/Draco stuff … I wasn't sure how well that would go down, as it's my first real attempt at anything remotely romantic.

**Aishwarya** – My Christmas (all three of them, because I have too many 'families') were very Merry, and I hope yours was as well!

**IRM Karmada Dothlthleig** – I'm working on descriptions at the moment, but intend to start looking into vocabulary in the not too distant future! Sorry I haven't been online much, I've been using AIM, under a new name, TanyaBussa, for awhile now instead.

**Lady Siobhan** – you'll find out when I get there, of course! –laughs-

**Lady Siobhan** – I like Blaise as well … I'm hoping to develop her more soon. I had a fantastic Christmas, and I hope you did also. And I can't remember if Ron is a prefect or not … -sigh- too many chapters, too many stories … I'll have to read back and check on that one though. Your many reviews, particularly when you went through the last story, were very well received and I thank you for them!

**FlyingPixie **- I'm going to be working on chapter length now. Harry Potter and the Seeker of the Shadows, my other story, is getting nice long chapters, and starting next chapter, I'm hoping to achieve something of the like for this story as well … hopefully this will be the last short chapter, because I hate them too.

**JeanieBeanie33** – glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you like this one also!

**Moonypadfoot **– Blaise's life isn't going to be an easy one, but it will be a good one!

**-Blank-** - I don't pay much attention to time-zones – I just know that everyone that I know in the Northern Hemisphere is a day behind me, while those friends of mine in the southern hemisphere are only a few hours different …

**Dumbeldave** - I know the feeling. I get the same about my own favourite stories. I'll do my best to update as much as possible, but I don't know how often that will be …

**Marauder #**3 – I'm glad that you enjoyed the story, and I hope this chapter is as good as you'd like.

**Kordolin** – Here's more! Well not really, here's another chapter (my brother's name is More, and he isn't here…)

**Lyss33** – I hope your Christmas was as good as mine, which was very good, thank you for asking!

**Ezmerelda** – Yeah, I like Mature!Harry, Immature!Harry just annoys me …

**Emma Barrows** – I'm glad you're enjoying the story. My own satisfaction with this piece of work is wearing thin, but one I finish it I can move on to better plotlines and better writing. In the meantime, I'm glad that people continue to enjoy the story.

**uNoeWho** – well, it's not really SOON, as such, but it's an update!

**Hexe605** – I'm sad to hear that you haven't been able to get on as often as you'd like, and honoured that you are finding the time to read this work still. You went to England? –very jealous- The Red Wyvern? Yeah, it's good, I always enjoy it when I read it, but it's the 1st of the 3rd quartet, and it won't make as much sense unless you read the other two first … the first book in the whole series is 'Daggerspell', followed by 'Darkspell' – I think there is a list on her website, . Next chapter we find out more about the inheritance, don't worry! I'll go and look for the two books you suggested next week sometime, I haven't read them yet … I'm reading the Gryphon books by Mercedes Lackey myself at the moment, although I've always loved the HalfBlood Chronicles (written with Andre Norton).


	15. Sword of Dreams

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Fifteen: Sword of Dreams

Two weeks after the Quidditch game found Harry seated in the Room of Requirement, alone save for Grypis. He was angry – really angry. Voldemort had attacked again, but this time Harry had been helpless to do _anything_ to fight against him. He hadn't dreamed of anything at all recently, not since Sirius had left his dreams, and he had been nowhere nearby when the attack had come.

Voldemort was getting bold – he had attacked on the Auror training schools, and killed fifty trainees along with three instructors before he had been fought back. Harry was holding onto the _Daily Prophet_, the front page of which had been the first Harry had heard of the attack the night before, which had come while everyone in the facility had been asleep.

When he had read the article, Harry had left the Great Hall, not seeing anything because his mind was swamped with rage and grief. Grypis had followed him, but the griffin had been the only thing that had, everyone else thought it best to leave him to deal with his grief before approaching him.

Grypis had counselled Harry to seek refuge in the Centre, which Harry had done, happy to escape the powerful emotions that were screaming through his mind. When he had calmed down, Harry slipped from the Room of Requirement and had gone to the Gryffindor common room – everyone in the room looked up when he entered, but no one tried to talk to him, as he walked to the stairs leading up the dormitories with his eyes downcast.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do up there, only that he would rather be there than anywhere else. Grypis, on his shoulder, seemed to agree, the dormitory was where they should be, though neither knew why.

When he got upstairs, Harry lay down on his bed and absently searched through his trunk to see if he could find something interesting to take his mind off the recent loss of life. Suddenly, his questing fingers met a box, one that he had almost forgotten about since school had gone back – the Inheritance his mother had left him.

Absently, he pulled it out of his drunk and examined it. He must have looked at it a thousand times since he had received it, but it was still interesting, and he was still sure that held other secrets that he had yet to find, and until he found them, he would never be satisfied to let the box alone.

He ran his hand over the top of it, fingers gently tracing the gold inlays until he reached the lion, tracing its roaring figure, running his hands over the lilies, then placing his hand palm down over the lion.

There was a soft click and the box opened. Inside was the note from his parents, which he kept in there for safekeeping, and he absently rubbed his hand over the ring that had been in the box. He had yet to discover what the charms upon it were, but he intended to find out, when he had the time. The diary that Lily had left was in there still as well. He had read it all, and had been delighted by many of the things that his mother had entrusted to the little book.

But these things did not really concern him at the moment, because he wanted, as he usually did when he opened the box, to find what was hidden within it. He was being eaten alive by curiosity as to what else might have been placed in the box that he could not find, and had spent many long hours since he had received the box trying to find whatever it was.

He ran his fingers over the inside of the box, searching for any hidden compartments, but, as usual, found none. Making sure everything was still tucked into the box, he closed the lid and examined the outside, poking here and there.

Running his fingers down the Celtic knot work, and then over the stag with the lilies that was on the bottom of the box, round over the lilies etched on the side and then up to the lion again. Gently, he pushed at the ruby's that did the lion for eyes and suddenly the box shuddered slightly. Harry nearly dropped it, but caught himself just in time.

The side with the lily in full bloom slid away and Harry could see something that was within the box, yet was not inside the main compartment. Magic had made it that the compartment changed depending on which way you opened it.

Harry reached his hand into the darkness and felt his hand close on something that was at once familiar and alien to him. Wrapping his fingers around the object, he drew it free, already knowing what it would be.

Still, beneath the light of day, in the waking world, Harry could help but admire the sheer beauty of the weapon that he held in his hand. The blade of the sword glowed pale silver in the light, and the weapon was flawlessly balanced, the weight absolutely perfect in his hands. The hilt fitted into his hands as if made for them, and there was a ruby set into the pommel.

It was the sword from his dreams, Harry realised in utter amazement, and, without any conscious thought, he began the dance that he always did in his dreams, the sword feeling so _right_ in his hands that it amazed him.

He hardly noticed his body going through the motions of the pattern dance with the sword, having lived through them in his dreams so often, but his mind was a complete blank, no thoughts disturbed the utter calm that had overtaken him, there was only the sword in his world.

The dance came to its conclusion, but Harry's mind still floated on a wave of calm that was beyond anything he had experienced, even when he was within his Centre. Grypis's voice floated into his vague thoughts suddenly, _That's the sword from your dreams, is it not, Gryfas?_

"Yes," Harry murmured aloud. "It is real …"

_Put it down for a moment, would you_? Grypis asked him, and, after a moment, Harry did so. Immediately his thoughts went back to normal, and it was a very odd sensation, his thoughts suddenly rushing from a snails-pace to normal speed.

"Whoa," Harry whispered, surprised by the effect, and sat down because it made him feel slightly dizzy. "That was _weird_." Then he returned to the immediate problem. "How the hell did the sword I've been dreaming about for a year now get into the real world?"

_Is there anything else in the compartment_? Grypis asked him, and Harry checked, mentally berating himself for not thinking of that on his own. Inside there was, indeed, another note. This was written in a completely different hand from the letter that his mother had written, and Harry's heart quickened when he realised that it must be from his father.

_Dear Son,_

_You've found the hidden compartment, well done! I'm sure that you have no idea how you managed to open it – don't worry, no one knows exactly how it works. This box has been in my family for generations, you see, and the sword is a relic of the Potter family that has been passed down since the days before the Founders of Hogwarts. A long time, I'm sure you realise._

_The sword is always hidden within the box, and sometimes members of my family put things in the top compartment as well, to give a reason for keeping the thing, when some people might have chucked it out (it's been attempted, by those who couldn't find the compartment)._

_Anyway, the only way you can open the secret compartment is if the sword first chooses you, and then decides that the time is right for you to find it. I found the sword the year after I left school, which was four years ago as I write this note to you – I'm watching you playing on the floor in front of me, by the way._

_The sword can only chose someone of Potter blood, and can only be wielded by one with our blood. Good way of finding out if there is anyone who doesn't know that they are related to you. If they can perform the sword-dance, then they are related._

_Now, about using the sword … the Sword-Dance is a symbol of one who is chosen, and thereafter someone who has our blood flowing in their veins, but it will not help you much. It is a means of recognition only, and while you will always be able to perform the dance when holding this sword, you will have to learn to use the sword _properly _on your own. I hope I am around to teach you, but somehow I doubt it …_

_The sword has some innate powers, one is that you cannot injure yourself on the blade (so if you slip in training and take off your head, it won't do any damage at all – useful, I can tell you, although as far as I'm aware, no one has come near taking their head off before!). Also, if you are holding the sword when there is someone who definitely _doesn't_ like you, and would kill you, you'll be made aware of their intent. That used to be used so that members of the family a) knew who their political allies were and b) could be alerted to assassination attempts._

_There are a couple of other things, but I'm not allowed to tell you what they are at the moment. You have to find them out for yourself, as I did when I got the sword. Good luck, Son … and now your screaming for food, so I have to go and feed you …_

_Your loving father,_

_James._

Harry laughed quietly at the end of the letter, and then read it aloud to Grypis, who found it amusing in several places as well. Then Harry set the letter within the box again and the compartment closed. Harry assumed that it was only magic that allowed the sword to fit within the tiny box, because the blade would never have fit into the box otherwise.

Suddenly the compartment opened again, all on its own because Harry wasn't touching it any more, and inside Harry found something else – a scabbard for the blade. That was useful, Harry thought, reaching out to tentatively touch the sword again. This time the effect of his thoughts slowly down did not occur, so he hefted the weapon and sheathed it quickly.

"I reckon we should go and talk to Tatsu about this," Harry remarked to Grypis, and the Griffin-turned-cat jumped gracefully to his shoulder.

_I agree. And Neko might be willing to give you some lessons on how to use it. If she can use a Katana, surely she can teach you to use a sword?_

"Worth asking," Harry remarked with a grin, and set off down stairs, the sword held in a way that made it less easily visible, so that he wouldn't get too many questions about it. Everyone knew that he had a sword of some description, and most knew that it was made of wood, so he figured that no one would comment on the fact that he was carrying a sword-like object. He didn't want to explain about the weapon to anyone at the moment, not until after he had talked with Tatsu and Neko.

He arrived at their rooms not in the least bit out of breath and knocked politely on the door. "Enter," came the serene voice of Neko from within, but Harry thought that he heard a note of laughter in her voice, as if she had received word of something that amused her greatly.

He pushed the door open and found her sitting behind the desk that she and Tatsu shared, smiling at a piece of rice paper in her hands. He could see the marks of Japanese characters through the paper from where they had been carefully inked on. She was smiling wickedly, an air of perverse pleasure in her demeanour.

"Something funny?" he asked.

"Harry!" she greeted him with a smile, and then burst into laughter, presumably something to do with the letter in her hands. She'd thought that he was one of hers or Tatsu's students, and had therefore been trying to maintain a professional appearance.

"Hi Neko," Harry greeted wit ha grin. "What's the letter about?"

"Its from the other Modifiers," she chortled in response, "About Sam – you remember him. Slimy American fellow we wish we hadn't accepted into our ranks?"

"Yeah, I remember," Harry said, "What about him?"

"Well, you know that Modifiers get names that suit them after they have completed their studies? I was given Neko, as a mark of my cat-like grace, and Tatsu was named for his skill with weaponry and the supreme power that he had … well, Sam has finished his studies, and they _rewarded_ him with the name of _Buta_, which means pig!"

At that, Harry started laughing himself, he couldn't help it. He hadn't known Sam very well at all, but he had less than favourable mentions of the name from both Tatsu and Neko, and he was happy to accept their judgement on such things. "Oh, I have to tell Tatsu!" Neko said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes and standing up. "Come on, we'll go through … I was expecting a student to come by soon, but they can wait for this … it's too funny to wait!"

Harry smiled and followed Neko into the residential part of the rooms that she had Tatsu shared, where Tatsu was sitting at the table with the newspaper spread in front of him and a cup of green tea resting at his elbow. He looked up at the sound of Neko's laughter as she walked into the room, and smiled a greeting at both her and Harry.

"Here, read this," Neko said, handing Tatsu the letter, which he scanned over quickly before bursting into laughter himself. The humour of the situation had subsided as far as Harry was concerned – not having spent much time in the company of Modifiers, he didn't completely understand the situation. He knew that the name you were given at the end of your training reflected your personality and what the others thought of you, so 'Pig' would be extremely embarrassing, and if the guy was as bad as Tatsu and Neko said he was, perhaps he deserved it … but still.

Finally, both the Modifiers calmed down somewhat and Tatsu looked over to Harry, "What brings you here? Just a social call?"

"No, actually," Harry replied, putting the sword down on the table, "This does." Neko and Tatsu both immediately leaned forward to examine the weapon, and, with a glance at Harry for confirmation that she was allowed to, Neko reached out and took the weapon from its scabbard.

When she had it in her hands she could only gape in amazement at the beauty of the weapon that she held, but when she tried to some basic moves, she couldn't, and looked at Harry in complete confusion. "There are charms on it," he explained, "That only enable one of the Potter bloodline to use the sword."

"It is magnificent," Tatsu remarked, running a hand over the hilt of the weapon. "Absolutely magnificent, and I am not even one for swords on most occasions."

"I wish I could use it myself," Neko remarked, "But magic is magic, I suppose. I would like to help you learn to use the weapon, if I may, however."

"Of course, that's what I was coming to ask," Harry said with a smile, "I need to learn to use it, after all, and I hardly know enough about swords to teach myself."

Neko nodded, "Well, I cannot use it myself, but I can watch use it, and know that if it was not for my teaching, you would not be as good as you will become. We shall have our first lesson tomorrow morning."

Harry nodded. The next day was Sunday, and the Quidditch team would be practicing, so Ron would be gone, and Hermione would probably be doing homework. Harry was keeping up with all of his assignments still, to his relief. Studying and training weren't getting in the way of one another, which was a very good thing as far as he was concerned. He wanted to do well in the upcoming NEWTs, but he also wanted to stay fit and keep his back limber, so if they'd gotten in the way of each other, he didn't know what he would have done.

"I'll see you in the morning then," he said with a smile. "Mind if I leave the sword here? I don't want everyone asking questions about it …"

"That will be fine," Tatsu said. "Have you done your exercises today?"

"Not yet," Harry said, and, before Tatsu could say anything else, took off his shoes and sat down on the floor to begin his exercises, while Neko headed back out into the other room to wait for the student to show up.

* * *

Draco Malfoy sat in front of the fire in the Slytherin Common Room in the most comfortable arm chair in the room, with Blaise sitting to his right on an exact replica of Draco's own seat. The rest of the Slytherin house were scattered around the room, leaving the two undisputed leaders of the House to their own devices.

Malfoy and Blaise were Lord Voldemort's chosen among the students, and no one was going to try and sit too close to them when they had snapped at Pansy for trying to talk to them just a short time ago. If they desired to be left alone, that was exactly what they would get.

In reality, Blaise was heartily sick of having to deal with those who thought that joining Voldemort was actually a _good_ idea, and was also sick of them trying to suck up to her as if getting her approval meant that they would get in the good books with the Dark Lord. And, of course, those who she befriended would have a higher ranking in Slytherin because they were friends with her.

She held herself aloof from most of the people in the House, not interested in giving her 'favour' to those too stupid to tell the right side from the wrong in this war. When she wasn't in the public eye within her house, she was friends with a couple of the first and second years that she knew from DA, and helped them out with their homework.

Draco caught her eye and nodded towards the doorway out of the common room, arching an inquisitive eyebrow. Blaise barely kept herself from beaming and running for the doorway, but she nodded slightly and rose to her feet, as he did the same beside her, and walked at a reasonably sedate pace to the doorway, Draco following not far behind.

The moment they were out of the common room, Blaise turned and buried her face in Draco's chest, and he wrapped his arms gently around her, holding her for a moment, before releasing her and gently leading her away from the common room and to their special room, the place where he had first kissed her.

Once they were there, that was exactly what he did, slipping his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. They broke off after a few moments, and Blaise settled her head against his chest with a soft sigh.

"You alright?" Draco asked her in concern.

"I'm fine," Blaise replied softly, "Just … heartily sick of Slytherin. I'm sick of pretending that I _like_ the Dark Lord, sick of knowing that everything I say to someone is thought of as 'approving' or 'disapproving' of them, and knowing that if I seem disapproving of someone then they will be shunned by most of the House because everyone else wants me to like them."

Draco's arms tightened around her comfortingly. "It'll be alright," he told her. "Soon enough, Potter will defeat Voldemort, and we'll be away from Slytherin in four months. It's not too long to wait. From then, our time will be our own."

_Our _time will be our own, Blaise thought. He was thinking of the future and planning on her being there with him when it came. That, more than anything else, comforted her, made her calm down a bit. "Thanks Draco," she murmured against his chest. "I needed to hear that, I think."

"Then I'll tell you as often as I remember to," Draco assured her gently.

* * *

_What are you doing, Severus_? Remus asked him, as Severus stood up from his desk and headed outside. _Where are we going_?

**I want to talk to Alastor**, Severus replied, **So we're going to the Headquarters of the Order. I have some reports for him about the actions of some of the older students in Slytherin.**

_Reports_? Remus asked, surprisingly not getting what Severus was implying. Even after spending so much time with the Head of Slytherin, subtle concepts didn't seem to play a part in his mind. Then again, recently Remus had been spending a fair bit of time with Tatsu and Neko in their rooms, trapped within the dream catcher and wanting more conversation than what he got with Severus, or in the Lands of the Dead.

**Letting him know which one's are looking most like joining the Dark Lord, which might be turned and how, their histories, the status of their family currently, that sort of thing**, Severus replied after a moment.

_Oh. Is that what you've been thinking about_? Remus asked.

**Yes, it is Remus**, Severus said coolly. **It is my job to keep an eye on them, after all.**

_Of course,_ Remus agreed. It never failed to astound him, how much Severus could, and did, do for the Order. He wished that he had been half as useful when he had been alive, but that wish was foolish to uphold, considering that he _was_ dead, after all. Sometimes he wondered if he should simply leave the business of living to the living, but every time he thought about it, he convinced himself to stay. At least until the War was over and Voldemort defeated, was his usual time frame.

It wasn't as if he would be alone in death, but he would miss those that he left in life when he did finally let himself fall free of the dream catcher that had caught and held his mind for the past year. Not yet though, it wasn't time to leave this world yet.

* * *

Well, it's not as long as some chapters have been, but it's a quick update, so I hope you're happy with that much! I'll update again when I finish the next chapter. Harry will learn something about the ring very soon. And it's almost time for the NEWTs to begin (I've modelled them on our end of schooling exams, which go on for a little over a month). This story is heading towards conclusion now!

Heh, I really haven't given many of you a chance to review, but oh well, here we go anyway:

Thanks to:

**JeanieBeanie33** – I'm glad you enjoyed the Quidditch match. I'll try and fit more action into – but the end of the story is coming up, and that should be very action-orientated.

**Elvishchic14** – Grypis will fly free when the time comes, and it will be a glorious time. You'll see when I get there

**Fcuking Cathy** – and you've come back right when I'm getting over my writer's block too! Lucky you! You'll be getting lots more updates soon, if I have anything to say about it!

**Cantfindagoodname** – well, I'm working on getting over writers block, and hopefully I'll be back In Every Darkness style updating (lucky you guys!). It's because I was working on other stories that enjoyed writing more, as much as anything else, I think. So I've put writing them on hold and started on this again!

**Dumbeldave** – I'll be writing as often as I can in the not too distant future, and updating as well, so hopefully that will attract more readers. And when I finish this, I can start on something new, and that will be good. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy reading,

WolfMoon


	16. Preparation

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Sixteen: Preparing

Now that Harry's body was completely recovered from the end of the previous school year, he was ready to do anything, or so he felt anyway. Each day he spent several hours working on unarmed combat with Tatsu and swordplay with Neko.

Neko knew a lot about swords, even though she usually worked with katanas, which were not quite the same, and she was a good teacher. Harry, while he had never been _great_ when it came to working with the katana, had a somewhat greater ability when it came to an actual sword, which he was happy about.

He also dedicated long hours to studying, reading over notes from the past couple of years, practicing spells and doing the assignments that the teachers were heaping upon him. Without Quidditch training he was able to keep up with everything just fine, although Ron was once more having difficulties in that area.

Ron was spending a _lot_ of time with the Quidditch team, trying to get them ready for the final match, which would take place the next month, against Ravenclaw. Harry didn't think that it would be too difficult to win, but Ron was worrying about it a lot – he wanted to win the Quidditch Cup for the only year that he was Captain, and since it was his last year at Hogwarts. It wasn't so good that the last match would take place just after the NEWTs finished, and just before the OWLs began, because it meant that Ron would be thinking of other things while he studied, but then, that couldn't be helped.

Harry understood completely – last year he would have felt exactly the same. This year he knew that Voldemort was getting stronger, and he was making himself as strong as he possibly could so that when the time came, he would be ready to fight, and he would be able to win.

He didn't know when the battle would come yet, but he knew that it was coming as surely as he knew his own name. Draco, Severus and Blaise all spoke of the Dark Lord implementing plans that they didn't understand, because he never explained himself to his followers. But they were as sure as they could be that he was preparing for a huge strike against the Wizarding world in the not too distant future – and depending on where that stroke fell, Harry might find himself fighting the battle of his life.

He knew that he was doing fairly well at his schoolwork – not brilliantly, as Hermione was, but achieving what would be an 'E' if it were being marked more often than not, even in Potions. Snape was being a lot nicer at the moment , something for which Harry was very glad.

Now that he had discovered the mystery behind the box, Harry was thinking more and more about the ring on his finger, wondering what sort of enchantments it might have upon it. He didn't want to ask anyone, because it seemed sort of personal, something that he should find out for himself, not rely on someone else to do for him, and therefore he was determined that he would discover its secrets on his own.

It would be fun, he tried to tell himself, to think about something that wasn't school work, training or the inevitable fight with Voldemort. All those things had taken on, in some ways, life or death attributes. How he did in the exams would determine what job he got after school, his training would determine whether or not he would still be _alive_ after school, and the fight with Voldemort would determine the fate of the world.

It scared him, a lot, the thought of what he might have to go through if he couldn't do what was necessary. In a way it had been easier before the end of fifth year. While he might have felt that he had a lot of responsibility when it came to fighting with Voldemort, now he knew that the fate of the entire world rested on his shoulders.

Sometimes it was easier not to know.

Harry was currently standing in the Room of Requirement, facing Tatsu and preparing for another round of fighting, before he returned to the Gryffindor common room to finish off a potions assignment and get some sleep for the night.

Tatsu attacked suddenly and without warning, but Harry was ready, and fought him back, then attacked himself. So it continued for almost an hour, before they both stepped back, exhausted. Harry knew that Tatsu was still holding back when they fought, worried that he might still irritate Harry's healing back, but not holding back enough that Harry could win.

Fighting themselves into a stalemate, they eventually stopped and bowed to one another, before Harry changed out of his Gi and into his ordinary school robes and he and Tatsu parted ways, Harry heading up to the common room, his way lit by torches, as darkness had since fallen.

He didn't hurry his steps or make any effort to conceal his passing, he was, after all, the Head Boy, and he was allowed to wander, if he so chose, because for all the teachers knew, he as on his rounds, or whatever else. He ran into only one other person, a second year Gryffindor returning from a detention.

Back in the common room, he found Ron and Hermione hunched frantically over their homework, writing as fast as they possibly could, Ron very sloppily and Hermione much neater. There was so much homework to do that not even Hermione could afford to take things steady, and Harry walked over to where they were sitting without a pause, taking a seat himself with a murmured greeting to which he received only absentminded responses.

His own things were waiting for him where he had left them when he'd gone to meet Tatsu, and he immediately picked up his quill and read over what he had written last, checked some facts in his text book, and starting writing as fast as he could, just like his friends beside him.

There wasn't a time recently that he could remember when he hadn't had several assignments that were due in the next day, and it wasn't a situation he enjoyed at all, although Hermione seemed reasonably cheerful, she was the only one in their year, it seemed.

He looked forward to the end of this year – he would be free of school, which would be one less burden on his back.

---

Harry took refuge in Grypis's company more often over the next week, finding the company of his peers, in their rush to complete homework and study as much as they possibly could, a little annoying. Grypis had no worries about school to unburden on Harry, and didn't wander around muttering the components of a truth serum, or the steps involved with changing an inanimate object into another inanimate object, or changing objects of various waits into lesser or greater weights.

He could concentrate on his own work and thus get it done on time and be reasonably satisfied with how he had done. Harry also practiced when he got too fed up with trying to word things perfectly, and practice took his mind off everything else that was going on.

Voldemort had gone suddenly silent, and Harry was sure it was because the Dark Lord was about to launch a bigger strike than ever before somewhere, he was going to do something important, but Harry couldn't find out what that was.

While the Order told him most things, sometimes they didn't, often because someone forgot to alert Tatsu, or Minerva, or the ones who found out didn't see fit to inform anyone, because it didn't seem important.

Oh well, he probably heard enough really. Sometimes he almost felt as though he was ready for the final confrontation that he would have with Voldemort, and sometimes he felt as though he could never be ready … right now was on of the 'I'm ready' moments.

But he still hoped the battle wouldn't be for a couple of years yet.

Most of the time he tried not to think about the battle, and rather concentrate on one potential disaster at a time – right now he wanted to think about the NEWTs, not what might happen after them. He did not feel in the least bit ready for the upcoming exams, which would determine what sort of career he could get into after school, although, as Draco had pointed out a week back when they had both been looking for books in the library, out of sight of the other students, not many people would be all that likely to turn the famous Harry Potter down, even if he didn't do well.

Still, Harry didn't want to take any chances. It wasn't worth it – if he survived the final battle, he wanted to know that he had something he had done on his own to help him through the rest of his life, though he had the sneaking suspicion that he would never be a 'normal' wizard, even if he did manage to get himself a job based totally on his own credentials. Somewhere, there would always be the memory of what he had done when he was younger.

Harry wondered if, after Voldemort was gone (presuming he was still alive, of course) he would have more such adventures, battling Dark Lords, running after mystical things that were threatening people or places that he loved … or if he would just settle down into a 'normal' life and do what he could.

He didn't know … only time would tell.

The NEWTs scared him, in some ways, but it was the fear of not doing well enough, not the sort of fear that he felt when his life was in danger, and it was nice to feel that kind of fear and know it to be different. The exams would go over a period of a month, with all of the different exams being held, organised so that most students would get at least a day in between their exams, both to rest and to study for the next exam.

The time-tables were already out. Harry was fair lucky, most of his tests were two or three days apart, he knew that some of the Ravenclaws had two tests on one day, which sounded very nerve-wracking. Even Hermione hadn't needed to go into that, for which she, at least, seemed to be grateful.

---

The NEWTs began in the second week of April, and the week long break of the Easter holidays fell in the middle of them, which would give the students a much needed break. Harry's first test was Transfiguration Theory, which he shared with most of his year. They were all led into the Great Hall and sat down at their desks, while the external supervisors prowled around, making sure that no one cheated.

Harry went through the questions reasonably quickly, doing the ones that he knew well, skipping those that would take him time to think about, then coming back to them. By the end of the exam, he felt that he had done reasonably well, although there were several questions that he felt he could have better on, and more than one that he had had to skip because he simply couldn't remember.

The second he got out of the exam, he went down to the kitchens for something to eat, and then headed for Tatsu and Neko's quarters. He had no wish to go to the Gryffindor common room, or the library, because he knew that he would find students muttering about the exams, discussion questions that they thought they'd gotten wrong, asking others what the answers might be.

In two days time, the practical test would commence, and Harry fully intended to practice as much as he could before then, although he would rather do so in a place where everyone else in the room _wasn't_ doing the same thing, because that was off-putting.

He knew that he had the option of the Room of Requirement, but he was also sure that other people would go there, because he wasn't the only one who knew the way in. When he asked, Tatsu and Neko were all too happy to donate their training room for Harry's use, and so he spent that night, and the next, in their rooms, sleeping an exhausted sleep of one who has pushed himself almost to the limits, while he did what he could to prepare himself for the next exam.

He spent some time with his friends, of course, practicing together with them, but, as he had thought, it was somewhat distracting … although it _was_ useful, in some ways, because Hermione corrected every tiny little thing that Harry did (whether he asked for the correction or not), and gave him some idea of what to expect when the exam rolled around.

On the morning of the Transfiguration practical exam, Harry joined the rest of his year waiting outside the Great Hall, and immediately sank into his Centre to try and remember all of the spells, going over them in his mind, while the people around him fretted. He decided he was happy that he could remain calm, if he so chose, throughout anything.

Finally, his turn came, and he entered the Great Hall, remembering the set up from his OWL exams two years back. He approached the free examiner, holding his wand tightly in his right hand. The examiner looked him over, and, to his credit, tried to treat Harry like a normal student. "Name?" he asked when Harry was standing in front of him.

"Harry Potter," Harry answered.

The examiner looked down a list and ticked off Harry's name – Harry assumed that the lists were magical and that every other examiner would now know that Harry had been done. "I'm Professor Greendale," the examiner told Harry. He was a reasonably young man, his hair not yet going grey, and his face open and friendly.

"Now, could you please change this hedgehog into a dog?" Greendale requested, and Harry did so. It was the first of a lot of questions, which Harry made his way through with reasonably good results. A couple of his spells didn't quite work, and he couldn't quite remember two of them, which he had to come back to.

All in all, however, Harry felt he had done well as he came out of the exam. Hermione was waiting for him, but Harry didn't mind discussing this exam with her – while she fretted over the most minor of things, Harry at least knew how well he had gone, whereas in the theory exam, he didn't want to hear how much Hermione had written on a subject, or what she had written, because it made him feel as though he hadn't done well at all.

They waited around until Ron joined them, then headed up to the common rooms, where Harry started studying for Potions, which would be his next exam in four days time, although Hermione had Ancient Runes the next day, so she was studying frantically for that.

The first exams were now over, and Harry was ready to face the next ones when they came. Potions shouldn't be _too_ hard, not after all the help that Michael had given him, after all. He smiled slightly as he opened his Potions book and began to read up on things.

* * *

Well, I know it's short, but I wanted to update, so here's the new chapter. Very soon things are going to heat up!

Thanks to:

Laen, Lady Siobhan, FredomStar, QueenWeasel, katepotter13, shadowmonk, Kordolin, Kordolin, JeanieBeanie33, Dumbeldave, FlyingPixie, T.R.Stone, Marauder #3, Ezmerelda, shadowmonk, Hexe605, Dreama.


	17. Plans

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Seventeen: Plans

The Easter holiday was by no means a fun one by _anyone's_ standards. The only good thing was the Easter eggs that Mrs. Weasley sent them, which they gorged upon while they continued to study, and, in Harry and Ron's case, exercise as well. Harry was flying with the Quidditch team as well as practicing with both Tatsu and Neko now. While he was not going to participate in the last game of the year, he'd been longing to fly again for ages now.

He didn't fly every practice, but the exercise he was getting was taking up a fair bit of time none-the-less, and while he didn't concentrate on that as much as his schoolwork, Hermione still frowned at him when he came in from one of his rounds. He was very glad that he didn't have consecutive tests, because otherwise he would be in a really bad position. He _needed_ to exercise if he was going to keep his back limber, but at the same time he _needed_ to do well in the tests for his career after school.

Still, he had enough time that he could do both reasonably well, and he was still doing ok in his tests, or so he thought, at least. He'd now done both of the Transfiguration and Potions exams, and his first test after the holidays was Defence Against the Dark Arts, so he was studying for Charms instead, which would be the test after that. Even Hermione had to admit that Harry would ace the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam with no study at all. He simply knew too much about the subject to fail it.

Harry was looking forward to the exam, because he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew very well that he would be one of the best in his year at the subject, if not _the_ best. It was nice to know that you were going to do really well before you even went into the exam, which was something that Harry hadn't really experienced before.

The theory exam was very easy, as far as Harry was concerned, but then, he'd been studying the books that Aurors would learn from in their training courses more than he had the actual texts that seventh years were supposed to be working with, so he knew a lot more about most of the spells than was usually taught in school.

When the time for the practical test came around, Harry was feeling both happy and energetic, a state which was in no way mirrored by any one of his friends or year mates. He couldn't wait for his turn to come around so that he could go out there and do something that he knew exactly what to do in.

It seemed an absolute age before his name was called, along with that of several others in his year, who all looked nervous and hesitant. Harry walked straight into the hall and up to the nearest supervisor, who was the same man that had been there in Harry's OWL exam for this subject. "Hi Professor," he greeted the man happily enough.

"Mr. Potter, good to see you again," Professor Tufty smiled in greeting. "Now, I think we all know that you're going to be absolutely brilliant at this, so lets get started so we can see what you can do …" The test turned out to be as easy as Harry had hoped it would be, and by the end of it, he was certain that he had passed with flying colours. Professor Tufty did nothing to dissuade him from this view, murmuring things like 'extraordinary' and 'exceedingly well done' under his breath whenever Harry did something.

Then the examination was over, and Harry was sent out of the Hall, his who body filled with happiness at what he knew had been an exam well done. He found Hermione in the Gryffindor tower, already studying for another exam, and joined her to work more on Charms. He didn't know what he was going to do about Divination, which would be held the day after Charms, but after two years with Firenze, he was sure he would be able to do something, though probably not as good as he would like to do.

He would study a little, but Charms was more important, as far as he was concerned. It would actually go towards his career as an Auror, and the only reason that he viewed Divination as being important was because if he failed that, they might not allow him to go for Auror training.

So he would have to study for that as well, however much he wished he had dropped the subject – Firenze was a good teacher, but that shouldn't have been enough to get him to do the course. But he'd been foolish and _had_ done it, now he had to finish what he had started.

Throughout the exams so far, Harry had been keeping an eye on the news, and had discovered that Voldemort was attacking with more ferocity than ever before – Harry had the feeling that the Dark Lord was trying to draw Harry away from Hogwarts, as he had back when Harry had been doing the OWLs. But he had to take a different course this time, as he could no longer enter Harry's mind and send him visions. _Now_ Voldemort had use physical means to try and convince Harry to come after him.

And they weren't going to work.

If Harry _was_ going to go after Voldemort he would certainly not do so alone, and he would not leave Hogwarts without a very detailed plan in mind that he could enact and which would prevent harm to anyone within his group. He simply listened to the reports that Blaise gave him, often second hand from Snape, and plotted in his mind whenever he found the time.

He knew that his friends were worried about him. He wasn't reacting to what he saw in the newspapers, just reading the reports and adding the information to what he already had – he didn't have the time to become emotional over it. After the exams, when he had more time to think about things, _then_ he could shout and scream and carrying on about the deaths that needn't have happened, but that would only distract him now, and he had no time for such distractions. His friends probably thought that he was keeping quiet because he was going to do something stupid, but he didn't tell them any different because he wasn't sure that he _wouldn't_ end up doing something stupid, but he hoped that he could avoid that.

He spoke with Tatsu and Neko a lot, because he knew that they were both level headed, and, while they cared about him a lot, they wouldn't try to stop him doing what was necessary – so long as he had a solid plan of action and would only do something if he had help. They were helping him form his plan, and he knew that he would not have been able to think of many of things that they had on his own.

---

The next two weeks passed in something of a blur for Harry. When he looked back on the time, he could vaguely remember studying for exams and sitting them, and his elation when he knew that he got something right. He knew that he did reasonably well at most of the exams, although Divination hadn't been very fun at all, but he thought he'd gotten a decent mark for that.

Charms, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy also passed well, and then, suddenly, the exams were over …

"I can hardly believe it," Harry remarked the night after the last exam, sitting at the table with Tatsu and Neko in their rooms, "The exams hardly seemed to start, and then they were over. I can hardly remember doing anything this last month …"

Tatsu laughed, "I think I know how you feel," he replied. "I'm sure you're going to be utterly exhausted tomorrow as the workload catches up to you, so we'll give you the morning off, but I expect you down here in the afternoon, because you can't be allowed to get lazy, or encourage you to skip training for any reason what so ever."

Harry nodded. He had come to eat dinner with his family in celebration of the end of the NEWT exams, and he knew that it would be as Tatsu said. By tomorrow morning, the euphoria of being finished with school would have worn off to be replaced by absolute exhaustion from all the late nights and continuous studying he'd been doing.

He finished his meal, stayed for awhile to chat with Tatsu and Neko, then headed back to the Tower to collapse on his bed and fall immediately into a very deep sleep, the like of which he hadn't been able to enjoy for some time now, with all the things that he had been doing.

By the time he woke the following morning, Harry was amazed to discover that it was already almost noon. The deep sleep had left him feeling well rested and ready for just about anything, so he headed downstairs for lunch, then, when all of his year-mates headed outside to celebrate finishing school, he went upstairs to join Tatsu and Neko for training.

School might be over, but as Tatsu had said, that didn't mean Harry could get away with not training. He could celebrate later, after he'd exercised and planned. Or at least, that's what he thought he could do.

"Now, Harry, I know you're probably very tired and more than ready to go and celebrate quietly with your friends, but … the Order wants to speak with you," Tatsu said. "The attacks are going on, and more wizards are dying every day – they were willing to leave you alone when you had to concentrate on your exams, I made sure of that, but they want to do something about it, and Moody thought that you should be involved with it, since it's your fight more so than anyone else's."

"Have you told them my plan?" Harry asked.

"No. I thought that I'd leave that to you," Tatsu replied. Harry nodded. "Let me change and then let's go," he said coolly, before ducking into the bathroom and changing from his Gi into black pants and a white shirt, shrugging a jacket on over the top of that and running a comb quickly through his hair.

Appearances, he'd found, often made the world of difference. Hurrying back out, he joined Tatsu and Neko at the fireplace and they Flooed together to Grimmauld Place and the Order of the Phoenix. When they walked into the kitchen, they found the entire Order gathered there, looking worried, all of them seeming to be talking at once.

"We have to do something-"

"Can't go on like this-"

"What _can_ we do?"

But everyone slowly quietened down as they saw Harry, Tatsu and Neko in the doorway, and all of them were looking at Harry as if he was the answer to their prayers, which was _not_ what he wanted to see. That meant that they had probably come up with some plan on their own, and one which they would need his help for.

And indeed, that was the case. They wanted to move the battle straight along, and, with the entire Order and the Aurors from the Ministry in support, send Harry up against Voldemort. They thought he was close to being ready, and their main plan seemed to be that Harry would be kept back, while they attacked Voldemort first off, kept back the Death Eaters and tried to wear Voldemort down enough that they could Harry in to deal the death blow which only he could give.

Harry listened politely as Moody went through the plan, although by the looks of things Moody didn't seem to think the plan had much merit – Harry was willing to bet that it had been concocted by one of the other members of the Order and, without any better plan to go on, and with all the terror that Voldemort was spreading, and the death count rising daily, Moody had seen no option but to agree to the plan.

Beside him, he knew that both Tatsu and Neko didn't like the plan either. Nothing showed on their faces that anyone who didn't know them extremely well could see, but Harry knew Tatsu very well, and he could see the traces of anger and disbelief that the man was trying to hide.

When Moody stopped talking, Harry looked at him and asked, "Is that it?" when Moody nodded, Harry rose to his feet and swept his gaze around the room. "I'm sorry to have to say this, but I must. That is one of the stupidest plans I've ever heard. _Voldemort_ does not use brute strength, he uses subterfuge, but he is very used to _us_ using brute strength against him – that is what we did last time he rose to the power, and so far, that is what we have done this time, more often that not. I do not think that it will work again.

"_I_ say that we should fight subterfuge in like kind. We have spies amongst the Death Eaters, we can use them to plant rumours and sew discontent amongst Voldemort's supporters, but only when he can't see them. The Death Eaters crave power above all else, we know that, and if let some of the know that this person, or that one, is moving up fast in the ranks, or has Voldemort's ear, then they will do all they can to supplant that person and get power for themselves.

"If we could get the Dementors on our side, that would be good, but I doubt that we could – we _might_ be able to convince some of the Death Eaters to join us, depending on who we ask, when, and how. If they can be convinced that Voldemort is losing his grip, then they might turn.

"Use the spies also to find out when and where Voldemort is going to attack, but instead of going there and meeting him in battle, just take the people and their most prized possessions away and hide them, make it look like they've just gone out for the night, or left on holiday, and make it seem like Voldemort mistimed his attack."

Harry paused there, and looked around. Everyone was nodding slowly, many of them wanted to agree with Harry, but they weren't completely sure. He supposed that he had better make them listen, and so, before anyone could speak up and say anything about the plan, he spoke again, just one sentence, but it was enough to send everyone into a momentary silence, "I refuse to take part in the plan that you presented to me, because I doubt that it will work."

Harry gave an internal smile after that – he, and they, knew perfectly well that their own plan would _never_ work unless he was there to help them, even though his role was so minor, or so it seemed. He would only have to deliver the killing blow. Finally, the silence was broken by the woman Katharine, who Harry didn't know very well, but he knew that many of the Order didn't like her all that much, and she had been guarding him when he first met Tatsu, almost two years ago now.

"So you think that your plan is better than ours, and you refuse to take part in any plan that you didn't come up with?" she asked him, somewhat mockingly. "Playing the hero and thinking that you're better than the rest of us, just because we need you?"

"No," Harry said calmly, looking her straight in the eyes. "If you can come up with another plan, one that it is not as stupid as your first one, and one that you can convince me will work better than mine, then I will help out in any way I can. I merely refuse to follow your first plan. I will leave you to think, and possibly act, upon my words – if you think of another plan, or wish to ask my advice, or my aid, with anything, you will find me at Hogwarts."

With that, he nodded indiscriminately to the room and left. He knew that he was being a little dramatic, but in his mind, it was completely justified. He hadn't been able to do much for the Order while he'd been at school, and he had never taking much of a role within the group, other than that of the necessary saviour, but they had to realise that he was more than just a necessity. He could help out … but he had not wish to take a leading role – they had heard the first part of his plan, and they could talk it over and decide if they wished to act on it, Tatsu and Neko could always tell them about the later stages of the plan, but for now, he was going back to Hogwarts. He'd finished his seven years training to be a wizard, now he wanted to celebrate for awhile, and not think about the other responsibilities that he had.

Just for one night.

* * *

Well, it looks like I've managed to finish a new chapter before anyone got around to reviewing the last one. Then again, I did only upload it a couple of hours ago. Here's chapter seventeen! I have decided to upload chapters as I finish them, so expect lots of updates in the next little while. Please review! I love reviews, and without them, I lose the _want_ to write fast, or update …

WolfMoon


	18. The Coming Storm

**A/N: I have a yahoo group, address is in my profile. Please go and join, post messages, and vote in the polls that I've started setting up. I have put up the stories that I have deleted from here, and I hope that you enjoy the group! More works will soon be uploaded! Using this method, I can better communicate with you guys, and get more feedback and stuff, which would be really good!**

**_Shines A Light_**

Chapter Eighteen: The Coming Storm

The moment he returned to the Gryffindor common room, just before twilight fell, Harry forgot about his annoyance with the Order of the Phoenix completely. The seventh years were housing a rousing party, and everyone was joining in happily. Even Hermione had let her hair down and was dancing with Ron to the loud music that was coming from somewhere.

He joined straight in, shrugging of his jacket and escorting Ginny onto the dance floor. Rainbow lights were flashing from the ceiling and the walls, and the tables that had recently been groaning under the weight of study books were now overflowing with all manner of food and drink, which seemed to be replenishing itself each time someone took something from it.

Hermione was too busy enjoying herself to show her disapproval over the fact that it must be making a lot of work for the House-Elves. Harry fully intended to enjoy that night as much as was possible, and ended up staying up and dancing with whoever was single on the dance floor until two in the morning, and stuffed himself with food and drink whenever he got in the slightest bit hungry.

Fred and George had sent a whole bunch of tricks to their brother for use at the party, and it had been an enjoyable few hours when everyone at the party had been trying them out.

Michael McGonagall had come in at one point, but rather than telling off, as his aunt would have done back when she had been head of Gryffindor, rather than the Headmistress of the school, he had given a smile of approval and remarked that as far as he knew, every other year had done the same thing after finishing the NEWTs, and he wasn't about to get in the way of the celebrations.

Harry ended up leaving the party around three in the morning and heading upstairs to collapse in a state of cheerful exhaustion, although it did take him awhile to actually get to sleep. He woke up again the next morning to find Tatsu standing over him, gently shaking him awake.

"What is it?" Harry asked sleepily, not at all ready to wake up. It couldn't be that much after dawn, which wouldn't have given Harry more than four or five hours sleep, which wasn't nearly enough after all the partying the night before, but the look on Tatsu's face convinced him that getting up might be a better idea than he would have liked.

"The Order have decided that they like your plan," Tatsu said, "But they want your help with it. Drink this," he thrust a goblet at Harry, "It'll help you wake up." Harry took and it and drank it without a word while Tatsu headed downstairs again. The drink was bitter, but it helped, and Harry leapt to his feet, dressed quickly and headed downstairs in his guardians footsteps.

Tatsu was waiting for him in the common room with a handful of Floo powder in his hands. "Take some, we have to get to Headquarters," he told Harry. There was no one else awake at this point in the morning, so there was no danger in speaking of Headquarters so lightly. Everyone was still sleeping from the night before.

Harry took a pinch of powder, threw it on the fire and stepped into the flames when they turned green. "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" he called, and was immediately whisked away. He stumbled out of the fire in the living room of his late godfather's house.

Molly Weasley was waiting for him there. "They shouldn't be bringing you into this," she told him sadly. "But everyone is waiting for your in the kitchen." Harry nodded.

"Tatsu's coming after me," he said, "I'll wait for him."

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Severus watched as Voldemort got more and more frustrated. His plans were continually going awry, no matter what he tried to do. Every time he went to attack someone, he would discover that they were long since gone, and there was nothing for him to vent his fury upon.

He supposed, dispassionately, that it would be very annoying, if that happened to him, he knew he wouldn't like it much at all. But then, it was the Dark Lord, and having him in a temper because he couldn't get his victims was far better for the rest of the world to bear. It was rather hard on the Death Eaters, and Severus had to admit that Potter's plan was coming into fruition – the boy had brains after all.

_I've been trying to convince you of that for some time now, Severus_, Remus pointed out in his mind. They were just heading in for another Death Eater meeting, and Severus had several notes that he was to drop in carefully calculated places, as well as a few well chosen words to deliver to certain ears.

The Dark Lord's servants were turning upon themselves, while their lord snarled and laid blame for failed missions. Some of them were beginning to turn away from the Dark Lord himself, and Severus had several things that he was to say to those who were wavering, just vague mentions of how forgiving Dumbledore had been, and dire mutterings about Potter's cheerful and forgiving disposition.

This was more fun than he had thought it would be, that was for sure!

* * *

Throughout those weeks, Harry spent more time at Grimmauld Place than at Hogwarts, which was alright since classes and exams were over and the students were just happily celebrating being free, while the fifth years took their OWLs. When he wasn't with the Order going over battle plans – his own idea had been greatly expanded upon – he was in his room, studying both the sword and the ring that he had found in his inheritance.

So far, he had discovered a few things about the ring, namely that it was charmed to calm and relax the mind in times of great stress, and helped to keep Harry's temper in check, which was a good thing, because he had to concentrate on what was going on now far more than he had to do in the exams – this was much more important. The fate of the world rose on how this was conducted, and that wasn't really something that Harry wanted to think about.

But think about it he did.

He discovered that if he concentrated on doing it, he could extend some of those calming qualities to those around him, so that when there were very heated arguments going on, he could work on both sides to make concessions and calm down, which was also very good. He doubted that he had found everything there was, but that feature was a blessing.

He didn't know if it could also be used to make people agree with him, and he didn't really want to find out – people were entitled to their own opinions, and he would not lower himself to force his upon them. He had tasted power, as the Order came to him for advise, and while he enjoyed it, to an extent, he didn't hunger for more, and he was happy to stay out of things as much as possible.

Slowly his plan was coming together. Voldemort was losing control, and it was making him angry. Soon he would attack with everything he had, in attempt to restore the faith of his followers and instil more fear in the magical world. When he did that, Harry and his friends would be waiting, and this time they would meet Voldemort head on, but they would know of his plan before he attacked, and they would be able to deal with it.

And then Harry would go up against the Dark Lord, alone. This had been something that the Order had protested long and arduously about, but Harry had remained firm. He would face Voldemort on his own terms, and he would hopefully defeat him. He had confidence that he could do it, and he informed the Order that they would have to have confidence in him too.

He refused to hide behind others and let them go to their death because of him. Hiding at the sidelines, or at the rear of the army, was something that screamed of Voldemort. Going out honourably and courageously was something that _he_ would do, and it was exactly what he was _going_ to do, when the battle came about.

Then they would see who the greater truly was. Harry supremely hoped that it was him, but if failure was predestined, then it wouldn't matter how many people died to weaken Voldemort, Harry would still lose when his time came to fight. He had made his choice, now everyone else had to accept it.

He spent long hours, whenever he wasn't debating with the Order, training with both Tatsu, Neko and Alastor. He was determined to know as much as he possibly could before the time came to actually fight, and he knew that with their help, he would be as ready as he could be.

Snape kept reporting to them, although he had moved back to the Dark Fortress, to try and convince the Dark Lord again of his loyalty. The Dark Lord didn't know about Remus, who was able to get messages in and out without detection, something that was extremely useful.

More Death Eaters were swaying, and Snape claimed that many of them would be happy to change sides any time soon. He gave the Order their names, so that they could be found if they ever left the Fortress, and, whenever they did, the Order was there, seeking them out, talking to them, helping them make the decision to change sides, then sending Voldemort back servants who no longer truly served him.

But apart from Snape, none of the others knew exactly who their other turncoats were. They reported directly to an Order member who had nothing to do with Voldemort, and that was that. Snape knew who all the turncoats were so he didn't have to continue working on them, and because his loyalty was completely ensured, unlike the rest of them.

Hogwarts seemed to be nothing more than a fading dream in Harry's mind, as he applied himself completely to the task at hand. Ron, Hermione and Ginny sometimes came to visit him at Grimmauld Place and let him know anything interesting that was happening.

Gryffindor won their last match of the year, which allowed Ron to leave Hogwarts as a victorious captain, and a very happy young man who hoped to get into the Quidditch industry, and Harry was happy for his friend, as was Hermione. On the rare occasions that they did hang out together, Harry and Ron talked about Quidditch a lot, because Harry didn't want to discuss with them as well what was going on with the Order and Voldemort – he spent enough time talking about it as it was.

Apparently things in Hogwarts were still running along nicely, which was good to hear. Ginny was panicking a little at the stories of how hard the NEWTs were, since she would be sitting them the following year, and Harry did his best to console her. "Study hard, work hard and learn what you need to know – you can do it, and you'll be fine," was something he said often.

He wasn't sure if she was listening to him, but he tried, and that was what counted, really. It was kind of hard to be really supportive of his friends when he was working his arse off trying to make plans that would enable them to destroy Voldemort once and for all, as well as training as hard as he could to be ready to confront him, but he did his best. There would, he hoped, be time for that once Voldemort was gone once and for all.

He wished that he was better at doing what he was trying to do, but he had, in many ways, been thrown in the deep end when it came to leadership, and having the Order asking his opinions on everything was freaking him out a little bit – considering that they were all many years his senior.

But he was coping.

Finally, the day came when Snape reported that Voldemort had grown sick of wasting his time, and was planning a full-scale assault. The plan was not being entrusted to any one person, because Voldemort did not want to risk detection. Each group of Death Eaters was told only what they needed to do, and when.

This was fine by the Order, because by now they had enough people that they would be able to learn most of what was going on, and probably work out the rest of the plan on their own, and be ready to combat it. Harry sat in on all the planning sessions and offered his advice when he thought it was good, but he wasn't in the least bit instrumental with the plan. He left that to them, and continued to prepare himself for his own part in the plan, the finishing strike.

The Order's plans were well formulated, Harry decided, and they would do well. Hopefully, they would win, but who knew what the outcome could be, until one side stood alone on the field of victory.

They had all of two weeks to prepare their own forces, and formulate a full and complete plan, which they did. The week flew by as preparations were made. The place that was being attacked – a Wizarding and Muggle combination settlement – was very quietly approached, and the people just as quietly removed from the area to be replaced by Order members in disguise, who learned the layout of the place and all of its defences, very quietly setting up more, so that they would be ready.

Voldemort didn't suspect a thing, of course, because it was done very quietly and efficiently. In the middle of the night, the Order would often steal into the houses of the Muggles, quietly wake them and explain what was going on, remove them from the area and leave replacements. That was a bit of a hassle, because they had to convince the Muggles that first, Magic was real, and second, They were the good guys.

With the wizards, it was easier. The wizards knew what the threat was and they were ready to react in whatever way they were told. By the end of a week, everyone was gone, and Voldemort would find a surprise on his hands when he actually attacked. The Dark Lord had several people coming from different paths, each with their own mission, and the Order had easily set up ambushes and other such things to delay or destroy the coming forces.

This was going to be the _final_ battle. If the Order won, they would win completely and not leave any stragglers. Those Death Eaters who remained alive would be questioned with Veriteserum, and if the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry were both convinced that they were no longer a threat, they would be set free. If they were classified as a threat, then they would be imprisoned for life.

There was no other way to deal with Death Eaters – they could not be trusted in any way, shape or form.

Harry was one of those in the village, masquerading as a young Muggle boy, and here he was right in the thick of things. The day that Voldemort was to attack dawned bright and clear, dew drops shining under the summer sun, and evaporating into nothing. He was staying with Tatsu and Neko who were his 'parents'.

"A nice day to die," Harry remarked to Grypis, who was, of course, with him.

_Too nice, for Death Eaters_, Grypis replied.

* * *

Yes, that line was stolen from the original Deceptions –grin- I read it again the other day, and thought that it was cool, so I couldn't resist putting it up here. Next chapter, the final battle commences, which will be either one longer chapter, or two shorter ones, and then there will be two or three chapters on the aftermath, then this story will be over and I will be concentrating on finishing Harry Potter and the Seeker of the Shadows, along with my other work on the Three Craaaaaaaazy Aussie account. We have another story planned for after the Darkness Rising is done, which I think a lot of you will like better. Please do read Darkness Rising, however, because it's a great story and I've been working really hard at it. It was through the writing of the story that my own style has improved greatly – working with another person is great like that.

Thanks to:

Drreadwrite, FreedomStar, katesari, Ezmerelda, Clare, SilverBulletInAWolf, lyssaspen, lyss33, littleoldlady, cantfindagoodname, Kordolin, siriusstaff7, JeanieBeanie33, TekNthzpn, Vicious Pixie, Hexe605, QueenWeasel, TuxedoMac, Dumbeldave, Dumbeldave, Snuggs, Mightnights Drawing, marauder #3, moonypadfoot.


	19. Breaking Storm

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Nineteen: Breaking Storm

Harry waited, bursting with impatience, in his room in this small village that they had come to. Everyone else was in their own places, ready for the attack, but his part was not until later on. He was in a room with spells to prevent anyone from looking in and seeing him, while he waited for his cue.

It would be a long time coming. The attack had not yet begun, and he would not be needed until near to the end. Frustrated, full of energy, he took out his sword, pouring all of his emotions, thoughts and energy into pattern dance after pattern dance. The sword would prove to be extremely important in the end.

Harry's part in this had been carefully planned, of course. He would duel with the Dark Lord long enough and well enough to make it look realistic, dodging or blocking any of the Dark Lord's spells, and then, finally he 'wouldn't duck fast enough' to get out of the way of an Avada Kedavra.

Far from actually dying, Harry would modify the spell so that it did some damage – because he couldn't take away it's ability to do damage entirely, he wasn't strong enough – and go down. When Voldemort came over to his dead form to gloat (which everyone was sure he would), Harry would quickly draw his sword, which would have been hidden by an invisibility spell, and run it straight through Voldemort's black heart before the other could get over the surprise of seeing Harry back on his feet and very much alive.

It was a risky plan, but risks had to be taken, and Harry _knew_ that he could do it. It wasn't that hard to draw a sword and strike someone, after all. He had practiced heart shots from a lying position for some time to make sure that he was perfect at them, with a dummy that was made to Voldemort's height and weight specifications.

Outside, he heard a sudden outbreak of yelling, and hurried to the window to watch, looking down upon the street from his upstairs window, searching the sky for traces. There were spells coming from over the forest, where Tatsu and a group of others were holding forte.

He felt a pang of worry, wondering how many of his friends would be alive at the end of the day. If _he_ would be alive at the end of the day. This was it, the final confrontation. The victor here would be the only one, for whoever did win, the opposition would be completely wiped out.

Harry shook his head, and turned from the window. The battle was joined, now he had to prepare for his own part in it. He very quickly changed into his Gi, and tied his hair back from his face so that his scar was clearly visible. He sheathed the sword and his waist and whispered the charm to turn it invisible.

He tucked his wand up his sleeve, within easy reach, and then returned to the window to watch. More fighting had broken out, and the battle was spilling onto streets within the town now. Harry could not see Voldemort, but he knew that the Dark Lord wasn't far away. Even within his Centre, with Occlumency he had learned, his scar tingled with nearness of his enemy.

Voldemort _wasn't_ happy. Harry chuckled slightly at that. Of course he wasn't happy. He had just met resistance of a kind that he had not felt for a long time, and it was in a place that he hadn't expected to find it. It was also stronger than any other attack that had been made on him.

But _he_ didn't know that this was the final battle. That was a _good_ thing, because otherwise he would be being more careful, and he would be ordering his Death Eaters to strike with care and avoid as much damage as they could. Like the Order was. They all knew that they would be needed later on, and they couldn't allow themselves to be taken out. At all costs, that was what they had to do. Preserve their own skins, _then_ get the Death Eaters.

And so far, they were doing very well, although Harry had no way of knowing that, because he couldn't see most of what was happening. And so he continued to bide his time, while the battle beneath around him raged, unable to find out what was going on, worried for all the friends that he had on the field, his mind filled with morbid thoughts.

He wished that there was something he could do, but his time had not yet come.

* * *

Tatsu remained hidden off to one side of the battle, a grim smile on his features as he watched the Order fighting the Death Eaters. His people knew that they were reasonably safe. He was there, watching them, using his powers to deflect or change any spells that came towards them, so that they did not do as much damage, when they did any at all.

The Order of the Phoenix was in control of the situation, and they loved it. For once they had a hand over their enemies, and instead of _them_ being the ones to walk into a trap, or be unaware of what they were facing, the Death Eaters were in that position at the moment.

He just hoped that they wouldn't get too cocky – he couldn't save them from everything, after all, and using his powers too often would drain him, physically and mentally. But he would put up with what he must, for the Dark Lord's defeat was nigh.

How he longed to leap out and attack them with his other skills, he knew how they would react to someone attacking them physically, without sheltering behind magic – with first condescending looks, then with real fear when they saw what he could do. But if he did that, he couldn't concentrate on taking care of the spells …

The attacking forces dwindled, slowly but steadily going down, losing members, unable to retreat, for the Order had blocked off all the ways that they could have done so. The Death Eaters knew that they were trapped. And then one of the Death Eaters turned and started attacking his fellows.

That took them completely by surprise, and before those few who remained standing could realise completely what had happened, they had gone down. The turncoat Death Eater nodded to the Order members, then sped away – he was going to the main battle to yell about how the Order was nearly down in the area that he was in, and lure more Death Eaters to their doom.

The Order, while they waited for him to reply, sent spells around, not aiming at anything in particular, to make it look like a battle was still taking place.

For a moment , Tatsu sat back, massaging his temples and taking a drink of water, taking what little rest he could before the fighting started again and he was needed. He was already getting a headache, and he didn't like that _at all_. Oh well, nothing he could do about it until the battle was done.

* * *

Tonks was in the thick of the action, and happy to be there. She had been called out of Hogwarts for the week, an easy enough thing since no lessons were running any more. She was fighting in the middle of town, utterly calm, completely in control of her own usually unruly body.

She was always like this when she fought, completely calm, completely in control, and she never quite managed to do the same thing when she was doing anything else. Sometimes it frustrated at her, right now, in the heat of battle, she didn't care. What a glorious day to be alive! The final battle was being fought and _she_, Tonks, was a part of it.

She took out a Death Eater with a scream of "_Stupefy_," then lunged to the side as another Death Eater attacked her. She felt the absurd urge to laugh, but she quelled it, and went on fighting. Laughing would be distracting for her own allies, even though it might freak the Death Eaters out a little.

She sent more spells at her enemies, rolling out of the way of others, delighting in the fact that she was doing something useful. _Just wait until I can tell mother about this_, she thought, how proud Andromeda was going to be of her only daughter!

* * *

Severus, attacking with the rest of the Death Eaters, watched the fray around him with a weary heart. The only good thing about this was that it would be the last, for he was heartily sick of all the killing that he had been forced to do, in the name of staying in Voldemort's service as a spy.

While he attacked his allies, he launched far less obvious attacks on his enemies. The Death Eaters never noticed them, soft incantations when he was standing right beside them, sending them down without a word as he pressed forever forward into the fray, towards his allies, leaving a trail of unconscious or dead Death Eaters behind him.

Eventually his treachery would be known, but the good thing about these robes and masks was that it was not possible to tell people apart in them. It would be awhile before anyone was able to recognise him for who he was, and thus he was safe from attack by both sides – for the Order knew who he was. They had spells that could be put in place, marking someone without seeming to do so.

All of the other 'turncoats' were the same. They would not be attacked with any real ferocity, just enough to make it seem realistic. Now all that had to be hoped was that the Potter boy would not fail in his own task. For if he did, none of this mattered at all.

None of it mattered …

* * *

Voldemort was in a murderous rage. Someone in his service had turned him. Many someone's, he could only guess, by the extend of the knowledge his enemies seemed to have about his movements. There was no way to call a retreat, and anyway, if he could wipe out this lot, then the others would be afraid … they would realise how stupid it was to oppose him.

And he would find the ones who had betrayed him, and make them suffer for it.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_ he shouted, aiming at one of the Order of the Phoenix, somehow kept alive even with Dumbledore gone. The man ducked only just in time, and the spell whizzed over his head. Voldemort cursed silently and tried again, on a different target. This spell was on its mark, and one of the enemy fell, never to rise again.

He laughed, a high pitched, spine-chilling cackle, and attacked again, his small triumph goading him into greater action. He would make these fools pay for opposing him as they had. Make them pay well …

* * *

And Harry continued to wait and watch. He could see Voldemort now, but the Dark Lord was still far away from him, and he could not act yet. Each time he saw a flash of green light, his heart broke in two. He did not who they were, but they were people who supported him, and people who were against as Voldemort as much as he was. That enough was reason to grieve.

"Come on you bastard," Harry spoke aloud. "Come on. Come closer. I'm waiting for you, and when you get here, you'll regret the day you reared your ugly little head."

_I doubt that he would live to regret,_ Grypis pointed out.

"Manner of speech," Harry replied.

_I see_, Grypis replied.

They continued their silent vigil, waiting until it was time for Harry to make his move.

Voldemort was making his way down the street, and Harry watched him, waiting, green eyes flashing with his readiness. Finally, he came close enough, and Harry Aparated down, appearing suddenly in front of Voldemort, surprising the Dark Lord. His wand was already in his hand.

"Hello Voldemort," he smirked. "Fell right into our trap, didn't you?"

"Trap, Potter?" Voldemort hissed, raising his own wand. As Harry had suspected, Voldemort was interested in finding out what sort of plan that the Order had. Harry could reveal as much of it as he chose, the Order had decided – at the end of the day, it wouldn't matter much.

"We've been goading you for ages now," Harry grinned viciously, "Waiting for you to launch a full scale attack like this. We've known all about it ever since you started planning – and we've been planning too! We're ready for you!"

"Really Potter? Is that what you think?" Voldemort asked quietly. "_Avada Kedavra_!" and Harry leapt out of the way, rolling neatly and coming up.

"_Stupefy!_" he yelled, but Voldemort blocked it easily, and returned the spell with one of his own.

All around them, the battle came a halt, as everyone stopped to watch the two 'leaders' fighting one another. No one interfered – if the Death Eaters had tried, the Order would make sure they didn't get anywhere with it. Harry fought to the best of his ability, and waited for his chance.

Voldemort shot several _Avada Kedavra_ curses at Harry, which had given him ample time to examine the spell's structure. He thought he knew what he needed to do to make it not kill him now. Now he just had to wait for Voldemort to use it again. Finally, he did so, Harry watched it come towards him, his eyes sliding out of focus as he swiftly modified the spell as much as he could, praying that it would be enough.

The spell hit him, and he let his body fall, biting back the urge to scream with pain. It burned, his skin was on fire, his mind torn apart from a moment as the pain washed over him. It wasn't as bad as _Crucio_, but it was more than bad enough to be going on with.

He realised almost immediately the pain wasn't completely magical. The spell had done a lot of damage, even though it had not killed him outright. But even with the pain, he still managed to fall so that his sword was in a position from which he could draw it easily.

His eyes open a crack, he watched as Voldemort walked towards him. Dimly, he heard the cheers from the Death Eaters, the cries of grief from the Order, the latter of which were of course faked. "It would seem, Potter, that I have turned the tables on _you_," Voldemort smirked, standing over him, leaning over slightly.

_Perfect_.

Harry moved, in the space of a breath, even though his body screamed at him in protest. Harry drew his sword and lunged, spearing it straight through Voldemort's chest, just as he had practiced. It was a perfect shot, and Harry was proud of himself, as he whispered into Voldemort's shocked face, "_Oh yeah?_"

Then he slumped back to the ground, his hand falling away from the hilt of his sword, and Voldemort's dead form falling over him, and he gratefully blacked out.

The Death Eaters were in shock, watching their leader fall, the sword piercing his body straight through, and the Order swiftly took advantage of the chaos, dealing with them quickly and efficiently. There would be time for celebration when this work was done.

But one figure did not join the fighting. A small golden furred cat slipped from one of the nearby buildings and rushed over to the two fallen leaders, sniffing at Harry's face worriedly. Something hadn't gone quite right. The _Avada Kedavra_ had done more damage than it was supposed to …

Harry was dying, even as his life-long enemies blood soaked the ground around them.

**

* * *

**

Yes, the ending is overly dramatic and, given my other works, probably reasonably predictable by now, but bare with me. Someone last chapter commented that my heart doesn't seem to be in this story, and it isn't as good as other works – this is very true, I'm afraid. Ever since I started this story, I've been without much direction – so much happened in the last story that it left very little for this one to go on, and I never really wanted to write this in the first place, but I had to conclude what I began. Even if I had waited, and plotted my heart out, but this wouldn't have ever been much better, because no matter how long I waited, my heart NEVER would have been in it … and for that I apologise profusely. I'm planning more stories, and those have a heart in them, and an ongoing plot that actually covers Harry's next years, as they are supposed to, rather than everything being shoved into one story, and then nothing being left over for the sequel.

Anyway, there are only another two, at the most three, chapters left in this story, and then we'll be on to new horizons!

Thanks to:

Lyss33, Clare, The Lord NightHawk, Clare, Rin, JeanieBeanie33, Surarrin, drreadwrite _thanks for the tips, I'm getting better … slowly._ Washu, Ezmerelda, marauder #3, Dumbledave, canfindagoodname, TekNthzpn.


	20. The End is Nigh

_**Shines A Light**_

Chapter Twenty: The End is Nigh

Grypis leapt into action immediately, sending a frantic thought message to Tatsu, somehow managing to get through. _Harry is hurt badly. He must be returned to Hogwarts immediately!_ The moment that the little creature knew the message had been received, he used his own brand of magic to transport himself to Hogwarts, wishing that it was possible to transport others by that method, and knowing that it wasn't.

The moment he reached Hogwarts, the griffin headed straight for the Forbidden Forest, hoping that it would not take him too long to find who he was looking for, hoping that when he returned, Gryfas would have been brought to Hogwarts, and hoping, more than anything else, that everything would work out alright.

* * *

Back at the field of battle, Tatsu was hurrying towards the place where the two leaders had fallen, easily pushing Voldemort's lifeless form off that of his young ward, resting a hand on Harry's neck, feeling the pulse beating so slowly that it was a wonder he was still alive, and his breath coming in ragged gasps.

A middle-aged man who Tatsu didn't recognise came over to stand with him. "He's dying," the man told Tatsu, who looked up at him, and, for a moment, didn't recognise him. But then he realised – this was Albus Dumbledore, disguised so that he could take part in the final battle against his long time foe.

"It's good to see you, Albus," Tatsu said. "Can you help me get him to Hogwarts? Gryphon asked me to get him to Hogwarts. I think that the creature has something in mind that might save him."

"We can only hope," Albus replied, and picked up Harry's sword, tapping it with his wand and murmuring _'Portus_' very softly, before handing it back. "This will take us all to Hogwarts, hold on Tatsu,' he instructed, not letting go of the sword.

"You're coming with us, then?" Tatsu asked, resting a hand on the sword, and carefully placing one of Harry's there as well.

"Of course," Albus replied. "I need to speak with Minerva, Harry, Alastor and you, now seems the best time to do it …"

"But Harry's dying …" Tatsu said, though Albus's reply was lost as the Portkey activated, sending them to Hogwarts, where Tatsu managed to land upright and holding Harry so that his body didn't get too badly jolted.

The moment they landed, both Tatsu and Albus started moving, heading straight for the Hospital Wing, Tatsu easily carrying his charge. Across the grounds, students looked up, wondering what was going on, seeing the body in Tatsu's hands, but unable to recognise it for who it was, because Harry's head was tucked against Tatsu's chest.

"What's happened, Sensei Tatsu?" Ginny Weasley hurried up them, Ron and Hermione not far behind her.

"Voldemort has been defeated," Tatsu said, very softly, and wonderment immediately replaced worry on their faces, "Don't spread the news around just yet – you should come with us. Harry killed him, but he's been _really_ badly hurt. He needs to get to the hospital wing immediately."

"We'll go ahead of you," Hermione offered immediately. Worry was evident in her voice, but she was trying to keep it at bay by being helpful. "Make sure that the students are out of the way, and Madam Pomfrey is ready, Ron, Ginny, come on!" she started off at a trot, and Ron and his sister following swiftly after her.

Albus and Tatsu hurried up the stairs in the wake of the teenagers, both of them very worried as Harry didn't even seem to notice the bouncing around that he was going through. They made it to the Hospital Wing and found the three Gryffindor students grouped around the door, waiting for them.

"Madam Pomfrey's inside," Ron said unnecessarily, "She's ready for him."

Tatsu and Albus nodded, and hurried in, leaving Ron, Hermione and Ginny waiting quietly around the door in a worried silence, not wanting to go inside and possibly disturb the healing process, but completely unwilling to leave Harry completely. Somehow the fact that Voldemort was gone for good was unimportant, when compared to the fact that they might lose their friend.

"Do you think that there's anything we can do?" Ron asked, a little while after Harry had disappeared inside. There was no word from within, the adults seemed to have forgotten that the teenagers where still there, waiting for any news at all.

"If Madam Pomfrey can't do it, do you really think we can?" Hermione replied snappishly, Ron looked at her with a hurt expression, and she gave him a quick hug. "I'm sorry – I'm just … really worried."

Ron and Ginny both nodded. Suddenly, they heard something of a commotion inside, and they almost opened the door to look inside, see if they could do anything, but they stopped again because they didn't want to interrupt anything important. "I'm sure they'll tell us if anything happens," Hermione said, wringing her hands.

* * *

Inside the hospital wing, the commotion was the result of Grypis soaring into the room, in full griffin form, a silver-furred young wolf held carefully in his claws. Madam Pomfrey went to push them away, but Tatsu held up a hand, "I think that they can help," he said quietly. "You have already said that you cannot do anything for him, perhaps they can."

Unwillingly, Madam Pomfrey stepped back, along with Tatsu and Albus, and Grypis let go of the wolf, which paced forward alone. Although the humans could not hear it, the two creatures were speaking quietly.

"_You said that the human wanted to make his wish. He does not seem to be in any position to make one at the moment,_" the wolf remarked.

_That is why I came. He cannot make his wish, for he will die, unless something is done. I am his soul-brother, and I had hoped that I would be able to his make his wish for him, _Grypis returned.

"_That would depend on what the wish might be. Ask, and I shall consider it_, the wolf murmured softly, silver eyes focused on Harry's barely breathing form.

_I would wish for his life,_ Grypis stated calmly.

"_A worth wish, it shall be granted_," the wolf whispered, stepping up the bed, proud head raised, jaws opening, sharp looking silvery teeth glinting in the light. Madam Pomfrey made to step forward, but Grypis bared the way. _He_ knew that the wolf meant no harm.

Bowing it's head over Harry's one, the wolf breathed out, and it's breath was like a silver mist in the air. Harry inhaled, and the mist sunk into his mouth and nostrils. Somehow, the wolf kept breathing out, as if it's breath would last forever, and Harry kept breathing in, and a silvery nimbus formed around his body.

Then suddenly the wolf stopped, Harry's long intake of breath came to a close with a soft gasp, and he let the air out in a long exhale, before breathing normally. The nimbus faded into his skin and colour returned along with the even breathing. The wolf turned and padded towards Grypis, but disappeared in a silver ripple of the air around it.

Grypis paced forward to stand beside Harry, keeping a quiet watch on his soul brother while Madam Pomfrey came forward in amazement and checked him over, seeing if he was completely healed, which he was. "Amazing," she kept saying under her breath.

Harry's green eyes flickered open and he looked up at his companions with a small smile. "So," he said softly, "He's gone. That's good."

"Who's gone?" Madam Pomfrey asked suspiciously.

"Voldemort," Harry told her, pride and happiness shining his eyes and reflecting in his tone.

"He's … _gone_?" she asked, staring at him, eyes wide in amazement.

"Yes," Harry replied simply.

Poppy let out a shriek of delight and gave Harry a warm embrace, "Well done child, very well done," she told him, unable to stop smiling or laughing. Harry smiled back.

"Could we speak to Harry alone for a moment?" Albus asked. Harry looked at the disguise of a young man, and smiled in recognition, as Poppy bustled away, presumably to tell Harry's friends that he was alive and well.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore," Harry greeted him quietly, "Now that Voldemort's gone for good, are you coming back?"

"No," Albus said jovially. "I've decided that I rather like life away from the spotlight – I believe that I shall live out the rest of my life in quiet recluse. Tom's attempt at killing me gave me a way out, and it's a way that I would like to take. I am old, and the concerns of the Ministry and the Order are tiring … I have faith that those I left in charge can deal with anything as well as I could. I will, of course, be happy to give you any help you need, so long as it is restricted to advice."

"Well, I suppose it would be a shock to the rest of the world if you turned up again, and I know exactly how you feel," Harry told the headmaster, "If I were given the opportunity to escape from this, I would … but I have not been, so I will deal with things as I see fit to. I'm glad that you have managed to escape, at least."

Tatsu nodded, "I think it is for the best that you stay away – you have been a pillar of support for so long, it is about time people got a chance to test their own legs and see if they can stand upon them. You chose wisely in your replacements, you have nothing left to worry about."

Albus just smiled. "I came to say a final goodbye. Well done, Harry – I knew that you could do it. You have made an old man _very_ proud with your actions in recent times, and I must tell you, it has been a delight to have watched you grow into your own."

Harry smiled back, but did not speak, he thought that all the things that must be said had already been said, and so it was without regret that Albus Dumbledore Flooed away from the school that he had loved, to live out his life away from the conundrums of the political world.

At that moment, Ron, Hermione and Ginny burst into the room and came racing over to throw their arms around Harry and hug him enthusiastically, shrieking with happiness that he was well again, and because Voldemort was now gone. Harry laughed with them, relaxing in their company, finally able to comprehend that the war he had been fighting for so long was _over_.

* * *

That night at dinner, Minerva called Harry up to the front of the school, and announced, in a voice that rung with pride, happiness and many emotions, "Lord Voldemort has been defeated once and for all." She let the cheering that came as a result of her statement continue for some time before raising a hand for silence, and eventually getting it.

"While this is a momentous and delightful occurrence in the history of our culture, our victory has not come without a price, and while Voldemort is now gone, there are many who never lived to see this time. For them, I call for a minutes silence." With these words, silence reigned completely in the Hall. There was no fidgeting, no nothing, as everyone stood completely still, and remembered those that they themselves had lost.

When the minute was over, McGonagall spoke again, "I do not think that it comes as any surprise to you that it was our own Harry Potter who brought about this momentous victory, and the Ministry of Magic will be presenting him with an Order of Merlin, first class, at his graduation ceremony tomorrow. Congratulations, Harry Potter!"

The cheering was without any holding back, complete and strong enough to raise the ceiling. Everyone got up and came over, screaming their congratulations of the noise of everyone else doing the same, overwhelming Harry completely. They did not calm down for a _long_ time, and so dinner, when it came, was fairly late, although it was one of the best meals that Hogwarts had ever seen, the house elves completely out-doing themselves with the amazing spread, and everyone ate until they were completely bloated.

* * *

The graduation ceremony passed without hitch. As McGonagall had said, Harry received the Order of Merlin, first class, along with a list of other awards for 'service to the community', and his school results, which were extremely good, and he was very happy with.

When he received his awards, he was asked what he intended to do with the rest of his life. "I don't know," Harry replied with a shrug, "But I think a visit to Japan might be the first thing on the agenda!"

Indeed, that afternoon, he, Tatsu and Neko left Britain for the city of Tokyo and a well deserved holiday.

* * *

Well, there you go. Several people guessed that the white wolf would have something to do with someone being brought back to life, and in a way you were correct! Anyway, I'll post the epilogue tomorrow morning. I didn't quite finish the story before my birthday (which was two days ago now) but I tried. I ended up leaving the file at work, and not being able to work on it for a couple of days, but oh well. It's done now! You'll get a new chapter of Seeker of the Shadows soon, I hope. I want to get two or three more chapters up before I go back to school in eight days time, but I don't know how successful I'll be at that one …

Thanks to:

Clare, Rawiya Prabhakar, FreedomStar, Lady Siobhan, cantfindagoodname, Ezmerelda, JeanieBeanie33, TekNthzpn, marauder #3, hpfanchrissy1502, Mara Angel, Dumbeldave, James and Lily 4eva, shadowmonk, washu, Rin, Dimensional Analysis, TuxedoMac.


	21. Epilogue: Fifteen Years Later

Chapter Twenty One: Fifteen Years Later

Harry ended up spending seven years in Japan, learning the different magics that they had there, completing his training with Tatsu and Neko to become one of the greater warriors of the country, competing in sword fights and contests at the dojo in which he and Tatsu had both ended up joining.

He even fell in love, with a lovely young woman named Hanaru-san, and by the time he came back to England again, they had been blessed with a daughter, who they named Erika, because it sounded the same in Japanese and English. His first visit back to England was for the wedding of Ron and Hermione, which he had been looking forward to since he had left, and his second was for the quiet funeral of Albus Dumbledore, who had been many things in his day. The only people who came to that had been Moody, Harry, Tatsu, McGonagall and Hanaru, and it was a very sad affair for them finally losing the man that everyone else had believed dead for many years now.

When he came back to England, Harry immediately joined up with the Auror training programme, and passed through the ranks with an amazing ease, his lessons from the Japanese, in both physical and magical areas, giving him an edge over all the others in his class.

Ron had already become an Auror, and Hermione was now teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. She had completely rewritten the curriculum, to cover a lot more than what the course had originally done, and Hogwarts now also offered an 'introduction to the Wizarding world'. First to third years were now required to sit one of the two courses, depending on their backgrounds – children who were half-bloods and had grown up knowing both sides of their inheritance could choose whichever of the two courses most interested them.

Harry joined Ron as a fully fledged Auror and was immediately put to field work. In the years he had been gone the Death Eaters themselves had been rounded up, and their children were still watched for any signs of wanting to follow their parents into the area of dark magic.

Trouble, when it came, came from an entirely new source, a cult of black magic users who fled from America to England, hiding from their own Ministry and corrupting many, though none who joined this group were closely related to the former Death Eaters. Harry very quickly took field command here, and delighted in routing this group in every encounter they had.

He spent a lot of his time searching out other little 'nests' of dark magic, scouring the length and breadth of Britain until he was certain that all those who had harboured evil in their hearts were eliminated.

His actions allowed him to rise fast in the ranks of the Aurors, until he was one of the top executives, and so, when Genevieve finally stepped down at Minister of Magic, Harry was immediately one of those first nominated for the job, and he was eventually persuaded to take it. His exploits from his youth were well remembered, and he was still a hero in the eyes of Britain, despite the fact that he had been out of the country for so long.

When he took control of the Ministry, he initiated changes even Genevieve, who had been a very competent woman, hadn't thought of doing, immediately beginning work on uniting all of the Magical Communities around the world. Together, those communities began to hold regular meetings, the places that these were held varying in response to who was ready for one, the headquarters never settling down, so that everyone felt equal.

They traded resources and knowledge, keeping an eye on any stirrings of dark magic in the hopes that a situation like the one with Voldemort would never be able to arise again. All around the world, new rights came into play, and those of society who had been formerly looked down on were given new opportunities.

In Russia, a young woman by the name of Lily Adams campaigned for several years for more rights for the Wild Children, and eventually won them, werewolves everywhere were given more acceptance, as were vampires, Veela, and many others. Harry did his best to create a world where a second Voldemort would not be able to rear his ugly head, although the Pureblood Faction never did quite give up.

Peace and prosperity flourished across the world, although the Muggles were left out wizard affairs, because it worked too well the way things were. Not even Harry could bring that reconciliation about, and he didn't even try, although all Squibs were told about the teachings in Japan that enabled them to find their own branch of magic.

Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini got married also, and, whenever he was in England, Tatsu was invited to the Malfoy manor to visit his nephew, and look in on the great nephew that had named after him. He was delighted to have re-found the family that he had thought lost to him.

---

Um … this was meant to go on a little longer, but I ran out of things to say … well, this is the end of Shines A Light and In Every Darkness. I'm sorry for the generally crappiness of this sequel, and I hope that my next works will be a lot better. Please forgive a young author for running out of ideas for this particular story, she's had a LOT of them for her other stories, which are going to be a lot better, and which she would advise you to read.

Thank you all for putting up with this story through to the end, and I hope my next stories a lot more satisfying. I wouldn't have written this story if not for you guys, and I only wish that I had written it better ... oh well, nothing I can do about that now, I suppose.

Seeker of the Shadows will be my next major project, and I probably won't be posting any more stories as WolfMoon until that is done (no promises though, me being me after all). Continue to watch out for the Three Craaaaaaaazy Aussies, who have more than one story being planned. I think a lot of people will like our second story better, because it starts in sixth year, rather than seventh, and explains things a lot better. Keep an eye out for Harry Potter and the Powers That Be!

WolfMoon


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